Graveyard Shift: REDUX
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: AU. Three years ago, Danny Fenton was involved in an accident with his parents ghost portal- and the result was his death. Already caught up in a complicated afterlife, things get more complicated when his parents return, a new, strange enemy appears, and an old enemy rises from his grave.
1. Phantom

**AN: **This is something that I've been working on for awhile now. Those of you who have been with me from the beginning will recall pieces of this, as well as the name from an earlier story, called Graveyard Shift. This, is the new an improved version, which I have thankfully brought out of that horrid first person perspective! Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this chapter. I was going to update either Reincarnation or Blood of the Phantom next, but I really got in the mood to write this and I figured that I might as well take it.

As always, Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman. Read and do leave reviews please! I like them very much.

* * *

Graveyard Shift Redux

Chapter One: Phantom

Death was a funny thing.

The white haired teenager couldn't help but think that as he stretched out on the rooftop of Casper High, his bright green eyes closed against the blazing light of the sun. His sensitive ears twitched, catching the noises of the students in the classroom directly below him. He could tell that it was Mr. Lancer's class, and he wondered which poor freshman had now become the victim of overweight literature teacher's lecture.

He yawned, though he wasn't really tired. He hadn't been capable of sleeping-not in the human manner, at least, for at least three years now.

Had it really been just three years? For him, it seemed as if he had been dead for far longer.

Death.

It almost seemed strange to him now. To be honest, he didn't really feel dead, yet he was reminded of the fact all the time. The differences between him and those still living were all too apparent, and yet just on a physical basis, one wouldn't notice it right away.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that he had changed as well. Being dead didn't bother him as much as it once had, when he was still adjusting to the change. At first, he had been terrified of himself, frightened of what was happening to him, and what he might have the potential to do. At first he wondered how long it would be before he became like one of those malicious ghosts his parents had kept on warning him about when he was still alive, like one of those horrible creatures that he fought on an almost daily basis.

But that was then, and this was now. Things had changed.

There was almost no one left that called him by the name that he was born with now. Danny Fenton, or rather, Daniel Fenton. It was only Tucker that still called him that, that still thought of him as that. He was the only one who still saw the ghost as the raven-haired, blue-eyed boy that had passed away in a tragic accident three years ago.

Everyone else knew him as Phantom. He was a ghost, but a very complicated one. No one could quite figure him out. He was at once similar to the other ghosts, but at the same time different. He both protected and destroyed, though the former happened more often. Everyone knew he had a vicious temper, however, and that he wasn't very conscious of all the property damage that he caused.

Somewhere along the way, even he had stopped thinking of himself as Danny Fenton. He was Phantom now, the strange white-haired ghost that seemed to be the only one to actually still reside in Amity Park.

He closed his eyes once more, as he continued to rest on the school roof. He wasn't sleeping, exactly, for ghosts couldn't really sleep. He had, however, taken to simply closing his eyes and putting himself in the action of sleeping. It helped pass the time.

He heard the faint sound of the final school bell ringing underneath him, and he sat up, stretching a bit. His white hair, which hung in a short ponytail, having grown still from the time of his death, was disheveled, and he muttered in annoyance as he tried to straighten it out.

Once he finished, he stood all the way up-or rather, he floated just off the school roof. He floated towards the edge of it, crouching down on the ledge. His green eyes scanned the crowd of students leaving the building, willing his presence to go unnoticed by all but one of them. "Come on Tucker... where..."

His words came to a stop, as they fell on raven-colored hair. If his heart could still beat, it would have started pounding, as he watched a violet-eyed Goth beauty walk out of the building, clutching one of her text books.

He crouched, frozen at the sight of her, his bright green eyes unable to tear away from her. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him to move, to go, to take her... But his mind combated them, shoving them aside so that the body couldn't do anything but watch her leave the school. His eyes followed her for as long as they could, and once again, he had to resist the temptation to go after her once she disappeared around a street corner.

And that was how his best friend, in both life and now death, found him. He had long since grown accustomed to his friend's routine of finding him after school, and he always knew where to find the ghost boy. He frowned a bit, seeing his friend frozen in place. He followed his gaze, catching a glimpse of the raven-haired girl before she walked around the street corner.

He let out a sigh. That girl was no stranger to either of them, no wonderful beauty that would freeze any man nearby. She was Samantha, or Sam, Manson, the daughter of the richest people in the city. She was also their best friend. His gaze dropped to his friend. Or, she _had _been his when he was still alive. Now he wouldn't let himself talk to her, and Tucker knew the good reason why he tried to do everything to avoid her.

Ghosts were obsessive by nature, and Danny had been no exception. It was actually Tucker who realized this fact first. When the ghost boy had learned that his friend had moved away after his death... he was caught between anger and a deep, dark sadness. Both of which seemed like they would consume him at any given minute.

Tucker had managed to keep either from taking his friend over, and eventually the two had managed to settle into a somewhat normal routine. But still, every so often, Tucker saw that longing rear up again. Danny tried to hide it everytime the dark-skinned teenager had noticed it, but it was to no avail.

Tucker wasn't honestly sure who found dealing with Danny's altered nature more difficult-him, or Danny. Tucker wasn't a fool, in fact, he was far from it. He knew that there were times this didn't bother Danny, though there were also most definitely times when it did.

When she had moved back a year later, coming home from the boarding school that her parents had thought would be a good idea to send her off to, the usual routine of Danny and Tucker's lives (or afterlives, in Danny's case), had been broken. It had been difficult for the ghost boy to resist her then, and he had wanted to immediately go after her to tell her everything. He wanted to make her his, wanted to be with her. He wanted her to never leave him again.

But he had managed to resist. Some part of him, still, knew that it wouldn't be right. And some part of him was almost... _ashamed _of what had happened to him. It was his bits and pieces of humanity telling him this, those fragments which he desperately clung to, never wanting to become like those ghosts the frequently plagued the city. He _never _wanted to be like them.

"Sam again, Danny?" He asked, breaking the ghost boy from his thought. He could have almost laughed as he surprised the teenager so badly, that he nearly fell off the building, quickly whipping around to face him. His cheeks were tinted a faint red color, embarrassed that Tucker had caught him watching her.

"Tucker! I didn't see you there..." He laughed nervously. "Why are you here, and not down there?" He pointed to the stream of students that was coming out of the building still.

"I figured you'd be waiting for me up here." Tucker grinned a bit at his friend, teasing him. "You're starting to be a little predictable."

"Predictable?" A mock look of hurt and offense crossed the ghost's face, but he was unable to keep it there for long. A grin soon shattered it, as Phantom shook his head, standing up straight, before hovering outright off of the rooftop.

"Show off." Tucker stuck out his tongue at the ghost, to which his old friend merely rolled his eyes.

"Oh, shut up. Being a ghost's not exactly a walk in the park you know." He retorted.

"Funny you should use that expression, seeing as you barely do any _actual _walking anymore." Tucker observed, smiling at his friend.

It was true though. Tucker had noticed that Danny was far more comfortable with using his ghostly abilities than he had been when he had first become one three years ago. Whereas Danny then had made an effort to stay on the ground and move around like he had as a human before, he now seemed to be perfectly content with floating or flying everywhere, walking through walls, and occasionally even walking _on _the walls.

While that in and of itself wasn't so disturbing, all of it could merely be explained off as Danny simply becoming more and more used to his strange new powers, there were other things that Tucker had noticed as well. His growing obsession with Sam, of course was one. It was, after all, difficult to miss the fact that Danny kept a small collection of assorted objects that he had stolen from his room. Not to mention the ghost boy had talked to him about it.

Even that, Tucker could manage. In all honesty, he could manage anything that came his way. Danny might have died and he might have become a ghost. He might be changing, and at times he might act extremely different from how he always had in the past, but... he was his best friend. In the three years since his death, nothing had changed that. And considering that those times had not always been easy ones, he was certain that it would last.

Certain.

* * *

Sam shifted her messenger bag in her arms, muttering in annoyance as she fiddled with the damaged clasp. Her violet eyes looked down at it, her eyebrows knitting in annoyance. "I can't believe it..." She groaned. "I only bought this two weeks ago, and it's already broken. Doesn't anyone pay attention to _quality _when they make things anymore?"

She shifted the bag again. She would just have to try and fix it- she didn't intend to buy another one so soon. It wasn't a question of money, of course. She had plenty of it. However, she didn't want to become one of those rich, spoiled, privileged upper class children who thought that they could buy anything they wanted, even when they didn't really need anything, just because they had the money. Or rather, because their parents had the money.

That was part of the reason that she had gotten a job. Smiling to herself as she came to a stop, she stared up at the iron gates of the city cemetery. She had seen the ad in the paper a week ago. The gravekeeper here was looking for someone to help. And what would be more interesting than having a job at the cemetery?

She shifted the bag in her arms again, moving it so that she could hold it in only one, and she pushed the gate open. The gate squeaked and crashed behind her when she shut, and she took a pause to look around.

The Amity Park Cemetery looked normal enough. But then again, this was the daytime, and this was Amity Park. Once the sun went down, the ghosts started to show up. Amity Park hadn't been declared one of the most haunted places in the United States for no reason. At night, ghosts were almost everywhere. They rarely showed up in the daytime... all, except for one, that is.

Phantom. Well, no one honestly knew what his name was. They had just started calling him that. He was the strangest ghostly resident of Amity Park. He wasn't like the other ghosts at all. He was always seen protecting the city from ghosts who desired to do it and it's citizens harm. He was a hero.

Yet at the same time, he was the most infamous ghost in Amity Park. Two years had gone by since it happened... but it was difficult to forget a ghost destroying an entire city block, and killing at least twenty people. No one knew what had happened that day. But Phantom lost a lot of the trust that he had gained in the first year of his afterlife.

And Sam had always wanted to meet him. She had plenty of encounters with other ghosts... and yet it seemed that she could just never get to speak with Phantom. She barely even managed to catch glimpses of him. For some reason, she almost felt like he was _avoiding _her.

Of course, that was just ridiculous. Phantom didn't even know her, so it made no sense for the ghost boy to try to avoid her. Chances were, the whole thing was in her head.

But still...

"Come on Sam." She sighed, shaking her head again. "Focus on more important things than ghosts." She smiled again, a little sadly this time as she reached into the external pocket of her bag, pulling out a handful of flowers. She carefully made her way through the graves, cautious not to tread over any of them. She wasn't exactly superstitious, but she knew that if she had died, she sure wouldn't like some young kid strolling all over her grave.

She finally kneeled down in front of one, that sad smile still on her lips. "Hey." She whispered softly, carefully placing the flowers into a little cup placed in the grave. "How are you doing today?" She asked, carefully reaching out to touch the stone etching on the grave. "Danny..."

It was hard for her to believe that he was gone. He had been so young... only fourteen. Three years had passed since then, since he had gotten caught up in that awful experiment of his parents and...

No, she stopped herself there. It still hurt to remember. It was, after all, all her fault. "I'm sorry." She whispered again, standing up, and forcing back a tear that had made it's way out. She gave another sad smile, waving a little bit at the grave, before she turned and headed towards the keeper's house.

"Mr. Hansaw?" She knocked on the door, calling out the keeper's name. "Are you home? I'm here." She could hear a loud crash from inside the door, and gave a slight sigh, knowing that the man must have tripped over something again. Sure enough, when the brown haired man opened the door, there was a bruise already forming on his forehead.

"Sammie!" He raised his hand in greeting, laughing a little as he straightened his crooked glasses. He has dark blue eyes and was about in his thirties. He kept his hair tied back into a thin ponytail and usually wore casual clothing. "What's up? Is school over already?"

She nodded as he let her into the small house, setting down her messenger bag on the table. "Yeah. You should really buy a clock or a watch, you know." She told him, leaning back against the table and tilting her head a bit. "Even a cell phone would be fine."

The man laughed a little at her suggestion. "Ah, I do just fine without one. I like my life better when I don't have to live it worrying about time."

"You live on a higher level than the rest of us, Mr. Hansaw." Sam told him with an arched eyebrow.

He laughed again. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment or not, Sam, but I'm going to take it as one." He grinned and grabbed his keys. "I'm going to run to the grocery store then. You're in charge until I get back." Sam nodded at him and he tucked his keys into his pockets, leaving the small house.

Sam heaved a sigh as she watched him go, her stomach grumbling a bit. "I hope he still has at least something left in here.." She mumbled to herself as she stood up and opened his fridge doors with a frown. After a bit of looking, she found an apple and took it, giving it a quick wash before she bit into it. She strolled over towards the window then and opened up the blinds, gazing out onto the graveyard beyond.

To be honest, Sam was surprised to find that the gravekeeper actually kept a place here. She had wondered what this house was when she had first spotted it, but her mind had been on other things at the time, and so she had quickly forgotten about it. Mr. Hansaw did seem the kind to keep his house here though. As well as being extremely clumsy, the man was also rather eccentric. His hobby, after all, was to collect skulls and old news clippings about serial killers. Still, he was a fairly good natured man and it was rather difficult for her not to like him.

She smiled a little, shaking her head as she sat back on the couch and pulled out her homework. "Let's see... I have to do two pages in Algebra..."

* * *

Sam let out a small yawn, reaching into her bag and pulling out a black cellphone, which she flipped open, reading the time. 9:30. She closed it then and looked over towards Mr. Hansaw, who was putting away the dinner plates. "I'm going to make my final rounds." She told him, grabbing her messenger bag and pulling it over her shoulder. She had fixed the broken strap with duct tape, so it would hold for now.

"Ah, okay." He grinned at her, waving. "See you tomorrow."

Sam waved back and grabbed a flashlight from the front desk and headed out into the now dark cemetery. It was closed at this time of night. It used to remain open until at least ten, but after the ghosts came, the graveyard was one of the last places anyone wanted to be at night. And so it was closed at eight, these days.

It seemed kind of silly to her. She'd worked her for at least three months now and she'd never even seen a ghost hanging around here. Not to mention that closing the graveyard earlier would do nothing to stop the flow of ghosts coming into Amity Park. It wasn't like they had anything around it to keep the ghosts from escaping.

It was a piece of irony that the only real ghost hunters around had moved away three years ago. A small frown appeared on her face as she remembered how the Fenton family had moved from Amity, just a few weeks after their son had died. She didn't blame them, really. If she were in their shoes, she might have done the same thing.

She shook off those thoughts though and continued on with her rounds, only to pause when she thought she heard someone's voice. Frowning, she clicked off her flashlight and listened, wondering if it was just the wind she had heard. But no, there it was again, a faint snatch of a man's voice.

Sam's eyes narrowed, wondering who had sneaked into the graveyard this late at night. They surely couldn't be up to any good. Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, she quietly crept through the cemetery, mumbling wordless apologies to the owner's of the graves she crept over.

She spotted the intruder soon enough and quickly knelt down, hiding behind a gravestone. She peered out then, looking at his back and quickly, her angry look turned into a surprised one. It wasn't a human man there at all, but a ghostly teenager. Spotting the ghosts' white hair and the black cape that hung from his belts, she quickly concluded that it was Phantom.

He was relaxing on one of the gravestones, as it was, his eyes slightly closed as he listened to an Mp3 player that he had gotten from who knows where. The voice she had caught earlier was him occasionally singing along with the lyrics of the song he was listening too.

Now curious, Sam began to creep closer, marveling at how close she was to Amity Park's most infamous ghost without him even knowing it.

Which of course, didn't last, as she stubbed her toe against a gravestone, an involuntary yelp escaping from her lips.

Phantom caught it and got to his feet, quickly whirling around and tearing off the headphones, his bright green eyes quickly meeting with her stunned violet.

"Oh." Sam laughed a little nervously. "Hi there, Phantom."


	2. The Gears Turn

Author's Note: Yes. I am back. Really, I am back now.

First off, I owe all of you guys an apology for being gone for so long. There has been a wide variety of stuff happening in my life that has kept me from really sitting down and writing. It's not the stuff I care to share with anonymous people on the internet, and not really the kind of stuff that would interest anyone- it's not terribly dramatic. But you know, at one point I just went, you know what? Screw this. Screw this. Keeping people waiting for this long? It's just not acceptable. So you know what writer's block? Fuck you. Yeah, just fuck you. I decided that I was going to write, and the writer's block I've been having could just KISS MY ASS.

And dammit, that's just what I did.

So, after far too, long, I'm back. And I'm going to STAY back.

Graveyard Shift: Redux

Chapter Two: The Gears Turn

You know those moments where the tension in the air is so thick, you could cut it with a knife? Yeah, this was one of those moments.

For quite some time, an awkward silence hung between the young Samantha Manson, and Amity Park's most infamous ghost, Phantom. Phantom said nothing, and Sam had nothing to respond to. She did notice, however, that Phantom actually seemed to be visibly shaken by her appearance. After awhile, though, he seemed to gather himself, switching off the MP3 player and tucking it and it's headphones away.

"Oh. You work here." The way he said it made it sound like he knew this for a fact, but it just hadn't registered for some reason. "You can see me?" He asked, looking at her curiously, but not getting too close to her.

Sam blinked, then nodded slowly. "Um, yeah, I... I do work here." She frowned a little bit, arching her eyebrow at the ghost's question. "Yeah. I can see you just fine. Why do you ask?"

"Um, no, never mind." He shook his head, shoving aside the question. "Don't worry about it, it's just... well, it's nothing." Phantom told her. It seemed that he was having trouble keeping his composure, and no wonder. This was the closest he'd been to Sam in the three years he'd last seen her. Of course, that had been when he was alive.

"Okay." The Goth girl couldn't help but find something weird about this whole encounter. Besides from the obvious fact that she was talking to a ghost, there was something else that was off about this. She couldn't really put her finger on it, but she didn't honestly expect Phantom to be this... well, he actually seemed kind of timid right now. Like he was nervous to be around her. Maybe he just wasn't a people person?

There was that awkward silence again. Phantom tried to keep up his composure, trying his hardest not to do something he'd regret. The ghost in him wanted nothing more to take Sam and make her his own, and never let her go again, but what was left of his humanity rejected that idea wholeheartedly.

Thankfully, the silence was broken then by a third party. From the graveyard house, Mr. Hansaw called out, shouting Sam's name. "Hey Sam! Are you out there? I need you to come here for awhile!" He called out to her. From the sound of his voice, he seemed a bit disturbed.

Sam turned around for a second. "Okay, I'll be right there!" Sam shouted back. She turned around then, opening her mouth to talk. "I have to-" She blinked, finding that the ghost boy was no longer there. "Okay then." She frowned, looking around uncertainly before she headed back towards the graveyard house. "That was weird."

_____________________________________________

Phantom heaved a sigh of relief once he saw Sam heading back to the graveyard house. He sat perched on a building nearby, watching as the raven haired girl retreated into the house. That was way too close, he thought. If his heart still beat, it would be pounding a mile a minute now. She was so close to him, so close that he could almost reach out and touch her...

He shook his head, banishing the thought. He had promised himself that he wouldn't go near Sam. Yeah, they were friends, that was true, but that was back when he was still among the living! Back when he didn't have this... this ghostly urge, this obsession with her. Even if she knew, even if she knew that Phantom was her old friend Danny Fenton, there was no way the two of them could pick back up where they had left off. There were just too many reasons why they couldn't.

The obsession was just one of them.

"Ugh." He groaned, putting his hand on his head, and running it through his snow white hair. "Tucker is going to kill me when he hears about this." He frowned, rethinking his choice of words there for a moment. "Well, more like kill me again. There's_ no way _Sam won't tell him about this."

Tucker and Sam still maintained a friendship, though it was not as strong as it had been when Phantom had been alive. There were just too many things straining it. They talked quite a bit still while in school, but once the school bell rang, the two went their separate ways. Sam went to her job at the graveyard, and Tucker went to hang out with him.

Speaking of that, Danny could have very well slapped himself. He knew Sam worked here. He knew it! He should have avoided this place like the plague, really, but sometimes he just felt drawn here. He didn't know if it was just because it's where his body was buried, or if it was because Sam was there, or both.

What he did know was that he would have to try much harder to avoid her now.

Phantom's looked down then, towards the graveyard house. He tilted his head to the side, thinking that he had heard something. "Sam?" His eyebrows knitted together in worry, as he saw the raven-haired girl dashing out of the house, and hurrying out of the graveyard. She took off running, like he had never seen her before. "What happened?" He asked, standing up and watching her.

Part of him really wanted to follow her, and he could feel his body moving, levitating off the building. But should he really? He frowned, biting his lip, watching as she hurried off towards the distance. If he followed her, he didn't know if he'd be able to keep himself from meeting her again. But at the same time, something was obviously wrong. Even from this distance, he knew that something bad had happened.

He didn't get to contemplate this for very long, as a wisp of blue smoke escaped from his lips. He knew what that meant, there was a ghost nearby, and he had to take care of it. Glancing back at Sam's figure one last time, he headed off in the opposite direction, following his ghost sense.

He could only hope she would be okay.

_____________________________________________________

Sam couldn't even remember a time when she had run so hard. Her booted feet hit the pavement hard, and she could feel sweat forming on her brow, even in the cool night air. Her breath came out in quick huffs, starting to show as the temperature dropped. She didn't even notice it though, as all of her thoughts were focused on one thing.

There had been an accident.

Oh God.

There had been an accident.

Although time and time again, Sam would say that she didn't like her parents, she knew in her heart that it wasn't really true. How could she hate her parents? She wouldn't exist if it weren't for them. They had raised her, fed her, and taken care of her. Even when she started to rebel against them, they still loved her and took care of her. Even though she tried them and got on their nerves constantly, she knew that they never even thought about kicking her out even for a moment.

And there had been an accident.

The hospital called, Mr. Hansaw said. At that time, that time that felt like ages ago, but in fact wasn't any longer than four or five minutes, at that time, the person calling had said they were both alive.

Barely.

She had to hurry, she had to go faster, faster! Sam was an athletic girl, to be sure, but even her top speed just wasn't good enough right now. She had to get there, she had to hurry. Thinking back on it, she should have asked Mr. Hansaw to give her a ride, but if she turned around now, it would just waste time. How many more blocks was it to the hospital? It couldn't be that much father. Maybe six, seven blocks, tops?

She couldn't take this. She couldn't take another accident. Already one had claimed the life of her best friend, was another going to claim the lives of both of her parents as well? How did it even happen? Today was movie night she knew, her parents always went out to the movies tonight. Had something happened on the way there? It was a car accident, she knew, but she didn't know any of the details. Just that her parents might be dying.

She heard the blare of car horns behind her, but she couldn't turn back to look at what had almost been her own accident. She wasn't even aware that she had crossed a street, to be honest. She was focused on one thing- getting to the hospital as fast as she possibly could.

And there! There it was, finally in sight. Sam would have heaved a sigh of relief if she could afford such a thing. Just another two blocks. It was in sight now, she was almost there. Maybe if she made it in the next minute, her parents would be able to hang on. She wouldn't lose them, she wouldn't lose them. Not like she lost Danny, no. She had to keep thinking that, keep believing that.

She didn't want to think what would happen if she lost them. Even just one of them. They were her parents you know? They might have been peppy and annoying, but she needed them still. And she loved them. I mean, what kind of messed up parents does a kid have to have in order to not care for them even just a little?

Finally, she was there, and she hurried into the hospital. She headed up to the reception desk, out of breath, and put her hand on the counter. In between gasps for breath, she attempted to talk to the stunned nurse at the desk. "I... parents... Mansons... accident... car..." She said between gasps of breath, before she was finally able to compose herself somewhat.

"My parents, Pamela and Jeremy Manson, I got a call they were here, and that there was an accident." She spat out all at once. The nurse seemed to understand, and nodded. She told her to wait one second, and made a call. After conversing for a minute with someone on the other side of the line, she turned towards Sam with a small smile.

"Your parents have been brought into surgery, Miss Manson." She told her. "I can escort you up there if you would like." Unable to talk, Sam just nodded. The nurse motioned to one of her co-workers, and left the reception area. "This way please."

_______________________________________________________

"Ugh." Phantom made a disgusted noise. "I will never understand what Skulker finds so appealing about having me as a rug on his floor." He said to himself, as he twisted the cap back on the Fenton Thermos. It was one of the gadgets that his parents had left behind when they moved in a hurry after his death. They hadn't even sold the house, so it had been standing there empty for three years.

It seemed that the fight had taken Phantom's mind off of Sam for the moment, but now that it was over, he found that the Goth girl was already wandering back into his thoughts. Frowning, he tried to push them aside- he had to get Skulker back to the Ghost Zone. Flying over the buildings of Amity Park, he headed back towards the Fenton Works.

He always felt a sense of melancholy whenever he came back here. He had lived here his entire life, and it was always so strange to see it empty, ruined, and abandoned. It still stood as it had in his life, but the people that truly made it his home were gone now. He had no idea where his family had moved to. He'd never really tried to look them up, either.

I mean, really? What would he even do if he found out where they lived now, what they were doing? What would be the point? It wasn't exactly like he could just show up on their doorstep on day and tell them that he was their now ghostly son. There were so many things wrong with that picture, the first and foremost being the fact that they were ghost hunters! Shoot first, ask questions never ghost hunters.

They wouldn't believe him even if he told them. And even if they did? There was no way they would accept him. They would try to vanquish him just like they did with every other ghost they came across. Why should he be any different? Yeah, he was their son at one point, but that was three years ago. He was a different person now. Even he knew he was a different person now. That was why people didn't really recognize him, he thought. He wasn't Danny Fenton any longer.

He was just Phantom. A ghost.

He landed in front of the Fenton Works and phased through the battered door. Inside was what the family had left in their haste to abandon it. Scraps of paper, several odd pieces of furniture, old ghost hunting equipment that they had left behind. They had left all of their equipment behind. He wasn't all that surprised, really. After all, one of the inventions that they were so proud of had killed their son.

He didn't recall the accident very well, but he knew that it was his fault. He frowned as he headed down into the basement. There, everything was just as it was when his family had left it, save for the few things he disturbed. An ecto-pistol for Tucker, a Fenton Thermos for himself, a few other odds and ends here.

He headed over towards the Ghost Portal and attached the Thermos to the wall display. A few quick presses of a button, and Skulker was back where he belonged. Danny heaved a sigh, tucking the Thermos away again. He headed back upstairs, and paused for awhile there, looking the place over. He had thought about staying here for awhile, he really had. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't even make himself open the door to his old room.

This place was filled with too many memories, too many things that he didn't want to forget, but also didn't want to remember. It might have been easier if he had been like some of those other ghosts he had fought- the ones that didn't remember who they used to be. Walker and Ember, those kinds of ghosts that had some kind of story behind them, but didn't remember it.

There were those that did remember, those like Johnny and Kitty, but they had each other, at least. Phantom knew that one day, everyone he knew would leave him, would go their own ways. Even Tucker would have to move on someday, and he would be alone. He figured that would be the time when he went insane, and it was not a time he was looking forward to.

"It really looks like a ghost house, doesn't it?" Tucker's voice asked. He had sneaked into the house, probably through one of the broken windows. "No wonder people don't like coming here." He frowned.

"I don't even like coming here." Phantom responded. "It's too weird seeing it like this." He had avoided it altogether during the first year after his death. "They just up and left." He shook his head, turning back to Tucker. "What's up? You need something?"

Tucker too, was looking around the house. He caught himself when Phantom spoke, and looked back over towards him. The expression on his face was strange and Phantom didn't like the look of it. "I got a phone call."

"A phone call?" Phantom asked, looking uncertain. "From who?"

"Jazz."

___________________________________

Author's Note: And no, no, I couldn't come back without giving you guys a cliffhanger. I gave you TWO.

I may just be a little bit evil.


	3. Change

AN: Huzzah, chapter three! I really loved writing this one, especially the exchange between Danny and Tucker. I noticed a tragic lack of Tucker in most of my other fictions, so I hope to fix that here by making him a much more important character. I do love Tucker, after all, he's a fun little geek. 3 A few hints on the things that have happened with Danny during his three years as Phantom come to light as well.

________________________________________

Graveyard Shift: REDUX

Chapter Three: Change

Why was it that time always passed so strangely when you were waiting on something important?

That was the question that drifted into Sam's mind as she sat waiting for someone to tell her about what was going to happen to her parents. She had been sat outside the surgery rooms where her parents had been rushed to what had seemed to be like hours ago. In fact, it had only been about twenty minutes.

She sat there, her hands clasped tightly together, placed in between her legs. She was slightly hunched over, her feet moving up and down as if she really wanted to get up and pace. She wasn't sure what to do with herself. This was the first time she had been to a hospital under such circumstances.

Danny hadn't even made it this far.

The thought of Danny once again brought the worries to her mind, and she bit her lip, trying to press them back. Her parents would be okay, wouldn't they? They had gotten here and they were in with the doctors now. There was no reason why they wouldn't be alright!

She had to keep telling herself that, she thought. If she thought even for one second that they might truly leave her, then they would slip away from her grasp. Such a thing wouldn't happen, the logical part of her knew, but it sure felt like it.

A few more minutes passed on, crawling slowly by. Her heart was pounding in her chest to the point where she thought it might actually explode out from it if this kept up. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so nervous in her life. She didn't know what was going to happen next. What if the worst should happen?

She shook off the thought then, trying not to think about that possibility. They would be alright, she reassured herself. There was no way they would let themselves die like this. Of course, they didn't really have a choice in the matter, but still. Sam let out an annoyed sigh, leaning back so that her head met with the wall. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down, but it was hard. She couldn't really make herself focus on anything. She was worried and afraid, and she didn't know what was going to happen, to either her or her parents.

She kind of wished she had someone with her now to tell her that everything would be okay. Maybe she should have called Tucker. While it was true that they didn't hang out that much ever since Danny had died, it wasn't like they weren't friends anymore. They still liked each other well enough, but they just didn't mesh as well as they did when they had Danny there.

He was kind of like the glue that stuck the two opposites together. Really, the only thing the three ever had in common was the fact that they were all outcasts. Misfits, really, that didn't belong to any clique or particular group. Sam kind of liked it that way, she enjoyed having two friends she knew that would be with through thick and thin.

Nobody ever expects the unexpected.

If she had known that his death was going to be the result, Sam would have never encourage Danny to try and help fix his parent's malfunctioning ghost portal. It was stupid of her, really. They shouldn't have been messing with something that neither of them really understood. But she had been so fascinated by it at the time, and the prospect of seeing a real ghost...

Now the town was filled with real ghosts, and the price wasn't anywhere near worth it.

If she could do it over again, Sam thought, she would do it in a heartbeat. Then all three of them might be sitting here together, instead of just one, admittedly rather lonely girl.

___________________________________________

"Wait, whoa." Phantom held up his hands. "Back up there, Tucker. Who did you say called you?" He asked, not quite sure he heard him right.

"Jazz, Danny." Tucker sighed. "Jazz called me."

"Seriously?" Phantom asked, looking confused. "She hasn't talked to you or anyone from Amity since the accident." He frowned, not really liking where this was going. "What did she call you about anyways?"

"You're not going to like this." Tucker told him, but Phantom could have gotten that from just the expression on his friend's face.

"Not going to like what?" Phantom asked. "Spit it out already, Tuck."

"They're moving back." Tucker told him, meeting his friend's eyes. "Jazz, your parents, they're all going to be coming back to Amity Park." He frowned. "She said they'd be here in a few days, and she wanted to let me know."

"But why?" Phantom asked, stunned by the news. "From the way they ran out of this place after I died, I thought they would never want to touch it again. They couldn't get out fast enough!" He motioned towards the abandoned house as if to emphasize his point. "It doesn't make any sense. Why come back now?"

"I don't know, Danny, she didn't tell me over the phone." Tucker heaved a sigh, taking a seat on the couch that had been left behind. "They'll be moving back here, too."

Phantom groaned, taking a seat next to him. "Well, that's going to make everything more complicated." He said, running a hand through his hair, trying to brush it out of his eyes. "How am I supposed to send ghosts back to the Ghost Zone if they're going to be here?" He asked.

"Come on, Danny, that can't be the only thing you're worried about." Tucker glanced over at him. "Why don't you just come out and tell them anyways, man? They are your family."

"Yeah, and they're also ghost hunters." Phantom said bluntly. "Look, Tuck, I know since we're friends and all, you might not really be aware of it, but people don't actually seem to like me a whole lot." He leaned back against the couch. "Especially not after _that _happened."

"Danny, you know that wasn't your fault." Tucker told him, sounding worried. "You've got to stop beating yourself up over it, man. It's not good for you."

"Yeah, I know it's not my fault, but besides you, nobody else does!" Phantom shouted, getting to his feet. "You don't know what it's like Tuck. People want me gone, you know?" He looked back at him. "Why would my parents be any different?" He asked. "Even if I was their son at one point, do you really think that would stop them? I mean, look at me, Tucker. I'm a ghost now."

"I'm sure they wouldn't be like that." Tucker tried to assure him, but he couldn't help but admit that even he was uncertain. "You are their son, and they love you, you know that. I don't think they'd treat you like another ghost, Danny."

"Yeah, I _was _their son." Danny heaved a sigh. "Tucker, they wouldn't even recognize me now. I've changed, Tucker, and I know you know that." He told him after awhile. "I'm not the first ghost of a person who has died here that has shown up in Amity, but I am the only one that nobody seems to realize who they actually are! Not even Sam knows who I am, Tucker! _Sam_!"

Tucker paused for a moment, not really knowing how to respond to that. He was right, he had really changed. Tucker had known who he was instantly, but that was three years ago, and besides, the two had known each other since they were in diapers. They used to live next door to each other until his parents had decided to move to a smaller place when he was around eight. They had bought the house next to the Fentons at first thinking they were going to have a lot of children, but it never quite turned out that way.

Danny was still pretty much the same as he was in life during the first few months that he was a ghost, only more confused and frightened. But gradually, he had changed, not only in his looks, but with his personality as well. Tucker couldn't help but think that if he had first met Danny as he was now, he wouldn't recognize him either.

"Well, yeah, maybe she doesn't recognize you, but it's not like she's every actually met you as Phantom, dude." Tucker tried to reassure him. It was Sam after all- he knew that the girl had loved him before the accident took away his life. How could she not recognize the person that she loved?

"Ah." Phantom paused, a slightly guilty look washing over his face. "Yeah, well, there is that."

Tucker gave him a look, arching an eyebrow. "I don't like that look on your face, Danny." He paused for a moment, before it dawned on him, and his eyes went wide. "No." He said, sounding stunned. "Danny, please tell me you didn't do what I think you did!"

"Well, that would depend on what you think I did." Phantom pointed out, but he looked kind of nervous. Okay, there was something about Danny that hadn't changed. He was still terrible at trying to keep secrets from him. Tucker had been around him long enough to know when he was keeping something from him.

"You met her, didn't you?" Tucker asked, crossing his arms and looking sternly at his ghostly friend. "Ah, don't even try to lie, Danny. You can't keep things from me. I've known you for too long." He heaved a sigh, sounding both irritated and worried. "I thought you promised that you were never going to go anywhere near her. You know, because of the whole ghostly obsession thing? Remember how worried you were that you were going to end up doing something really stupid to her?"

"Well, yeah, I do." Phantom rubbed the back of his neck, not quite meeting his friends gaze. Tucker could get pretty mad when he wanted to. "It wasn't like it was on purpose, really, I just made a mistake. Besides," he looked over at him now. "It's not like she realized anything anyways. She was called away before I even had a chance to really say anything to her."

_Or do anything._ He thought.

Tucker stayed silent for a moment, before he heaved a sigh, shaking his head. "Just try and be more careful from now on Danny." He told him. "I know what you feel for Sam is something I'll never be able to understand, but just try and control yourself, alright?" He asked. "You remember what happened last time when something like this got out of hand. We don't want a repeat of it."

"Hey, that wasn't really my fault." Phantom protested, holding up a finger. "I was goaded on. Besides, it won't happen again, anyways. That guy's long gone now. We watched it on television, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Tucker nodded. "But still, keep in mind that you have enemies, both ghost and human that would really like to see you gone. Some of whom would do anything to get that result." He told him. "Remember Spectra?" He asked. "That lady tried to _kill me_, so just imagine what she would do if she knew about Sam. It's best that you just stay away from her, Danny. I know it's difficult for you, and I really don't like it either." He admitted.

"Really, I would like for all three of us to be able to be friends like we used to, but..." He paused, not sure how to put it in a way that wouldn't sound offensive. It wasn't that he thought Danny was a monster, or anything, it was just that even as part of him wanted to deny it, he knew that he was different now. Things couldn't go back to the way the used to, no matter how much the two of them might want it to.

Sometimes Tucker even thought he wanted things to be normal again even more than Danny. Part of him knew he had changed, but part of him actively tried to deny it, trying to convince himself that he had always been this way. It really didn't help matters that he had begun to forget what Danny was like from before he became Phantom.

"But I'm a ghost now." Phantom finished, to which Tucker meekly nodded. "Yeah, I know, Tuck, I know, trust me." He assured him. "It was just one slip up. It won't happen again. I promise."

Tucker seemed satisfied with that. "I'll talk to her tomorrow just to make sure she doesn't know anything is up." He tucked his hands in his pockets, smiling at his old friend. "Look, it's getting late, and I kind of have to sleep myself. We've got a couple of days to go until your family gets here, so we'll talk about what we're going to do tomorrow."

"Yeah." Phantom nodded, reaching out to pat his friend on the shoulder. "Be careful on your way home, okay? Do try not to look too much like a potential mugging victim." He grinned at him. "I know that's difficult for you, though."

"Pfft." Tucker rolled his eyes, shaking off his hand. "I think three years of helping you fight ghosts has at least made me a fast runner, if nothing else, Danny. I'll have you know I'm more physically fit than I ever have been!"

"Which isn't really saying much." Phantom couldn't resist adding on.

"Well, you don't have much of a place to talk either, you know." Tucker arched an eyebrow, but he was grinning. "You were just as out of shape as I was, Danny. At least I'm trying to get into shape in a more rational manner."

"Oh yes, because fighting ghosts is totally rational." The white haired ghost shook his head. "Ah well, I know what you mean, Tuck. I'll see you after school tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll see you." Tucker waved at his friend, as he headed towards one of the broken windows, getting ready to climb out of it. "Don't dwell in here for too long, Wednesdays are always a busy night for ghosts for some reason."

"It's when the movies start breaking out their ghost discounts, you know?" Phantom joked, grinning. "Now get home before your parents think you've been abducted by ninjas or something."

"Yeah, I'm going." Tucker went through the window, pulling it shut behind him once he hit the ground.

____________________________________________

"Miss Manson?"

Sam's eyes snapped open, startled. She found herself lying on the waiting room bench, someone had pulled a woolen blanket around her at some point. When had she fallen asleep, she wondered with mild panic. How long had she been out like this? She must have been more tired that she thought.

"Y-yes?" She stammered, trying to clear her groggy head and focus on the person talking to her. It was a doctor, it looked like, and she felt her heart clench in her chest. "My parents, are they...?" She began to ask, looking wide-eyed at them. She knew she must have looked like a wreak at the moment, but she really couldn't bring herself to care.

"Your father is going to be just fine. He took a lot less damage than we first anticipated." The doctor assured her, which caused her heart to both leap in joy and sink at the same time. Her father? What about her mother, then? Was she not alright? She felt her throat tighten, anticipating the worse.

"Your mother took a lot more damage, I'm afraid." He told her in a calm manner, obviously trying to keep her from panicking. "We've done all we could, but we don't know if she'll be able to make it." He explained to her. "If she makes it through the night, she'll probably be in the clear, but it's all up to her now."

There was silence for a moment as she let the news sink in. It wasn't as bad as she had been expecting, but it wasn't that great, either. Her father would be okay, that really made her feel a lot better. But her mother... even though the woman was the one who most actively encouraged her to try and be her idea of a perfect girl, Sam still found herself very worried.

I mean, if not for her mother, she wouldn't even be here, right? It wasn't like they fought all the time, they did have nice family moments together, even recently.

"Do you think she'll make it?" She asked him after awhile, not even sure if her voice came through.

The doctor paused, obviously thinking about his answer. "I think she has plenty of reasons to do her best." He said after awhile. "I don't want to tell you anything that I don't know is certain, miss, but I think the thought of leaving a child behind is a good reason for any parent to try and get through the night."

There was another pause then. "Even if she does come through, both of your parents are probably going to be kept here for awhile." He told her. "Do you have anyone you can stay with in the meantime?" He asked. "A relative or a family friend of some sort?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Sam nodded. Maybe she could ask Tucker. She was sure he wouldn't try and turn her away, but failing that, she could always ask Mr. Hansaw. She paused for a moment, realizing that by this hour, the Foley family was probably asleep. Perhaps Mr. Hansaw then, at least for tonight. She was sure he wouldn't mind, and she knew he had an extra room that he never used.

"Very good then." The doctor nodded. "I would really like to let you stay here overnight, Miss Manson, to watch over your mother, but I'm afraid we can't allow that. I will have someone call you the first second we have any news. Do you have a cell phone?"

"Um, yes." Sam paused, digging the phone out of her bag and relying the number to the doctor. "Do call as soon as you can." She told him, to which he nodded. Sam got up then, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. The doctor said his goodbye and departed, leaving Sam behind. She yawned once, still tired.

Somehow she didn't think she would be getting very much sleep tonight, though.

________________________________________

AN: For those of you who are curious, don't worry, the condition of Sam's mother will be revealed next chapter. Along with a few other goodies, maybe. Or maybe I'm lying. I don't really know. Also, for the record, Truth and Lies, Lost and Found, and Moonlit Bane are all on hiatus as I do some plot tweaking, but they will eventually be continued as well. I still love them. 3 Some blurbs for new, possible stories are up in my profile as well, so look over them if you have a chance!


	4. Three Minus One

Author's Note: Oh look what this is. After a couple of years. Unlike Black and White and Two of a Kind, I just decided to continue this one straight. The writing in the old chapters is not so bad that I cringe at it, and you know, it's _already _a rewrite so uh, rewriting the rewrite would have been horribly redundant. That said, this is my 'free space' in the rotation, where I will be working on an assortment of stories in. That said, stories that fall into the 'free space' won't get updated as often, unless I finish one of the three stories in my main rotation, in which case, one of these will take it's place.

As of now, I plan to also pick up where I left off in _Thawing the Ice_ and _The Once and Future Phantom_. If all goes well, I plan to introduce two new Danny Phantom AUs, _Cursed_, and _Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl_, summaries of which are included on my bio page! There is a preview sketch for the latter on my DA page, as well if people are curious.

That said, I do not own Danny Phantom, but I do own Mr. Hansaw.

* * *

Graveyard Shift REDUX

Chapter Four: Three Minus One

Sam wasn't entirely sure how she had mustered up enough composure to call Mr. Hansaw without breaking down. She was always someone with strong willpower, but that said, the day's events had taken a heavy toll on her. In light of her parent's accident, her meeting with Phantom earlier was all but forgotten, the furthest thing from her mind. Mr. Hansaw had agreed to come meet her at the hospital, Sam wasn't sure if her legs could carry her safely back to his place.

That, and it was late, and there were ghosts about.

"Sam!" Hansaw called out to her as he spotted her, heading into the lobby where she had been waiting for him. She looked weakly up at him, and thought she must have looked like a wreck from the worried expression she saw on his face.

Rubbing away a stray tear, Sam stood up, putting on her best face for the grave keeper. "Thank you for this, Mr. Hansaw. It's just for tonight, and then I'll be on my way to Tucker's place or somewhere." She assured him.

"You're more than welcome to stay with me as long as you need to, Sam. Do we need to stop by your place first, so you can pick up some things?" He asked her, his tone concerned but gentle.

Sam thought about this for a moment, and shook her head. "No, no, I'll be fine for tonight." She was entirely sure that going into a place that was filled with memories of her parents was the best thing for her right now. Although her father was in the clear, her mother was still very much in danger, and she just somehow didn't feel up to it. She could deal with that tomorrow, depending on how things went, but not tonight.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Hansaw told her, placing a light hand on her head. "Come on then, let's get to the car. They know how to contact you?" He asked her.

"Yes, they do." Sam nodded her head. "I don't understand how this could have happened." Sam said after a long moment.

"Nobody really does." Hansaw told her, frowning, his dark blue eyes turning sharp underneath his glasses. "It's one of life's mysteries." Looking over the raven haired girl, he gave her a pat on the head, before removing his hand. "It's not fair though. It sure isn't."

"No, it really isn't." Sam said, shaking her head. Having already lost her best friend, how could she possibly face the prospect of also losing her mother? It was as if destiny had it in for her. Sighing, she followed the grave keeper out to his car, and got in with him, strapping herself in. "They said it was a drunk driver. A hit and run, _even_!" She yelled the last part, flinging her arms in front of her. "They just hit their car and took off! Who _does _that? My parents might annoying sure, but I'm pretty sure they've never done anything to actually harm anyone. That don't deserve that sort of thing to happen to them!"

"I'm sure the police will look into it." Hansaw told her, gaze sliding over towards her as he started up his car. "They'll find them, don't worry. It's not like they have a whole lot of other work to do." He half joked. Aside from ghost attacks, Amity Park was mostly crime free. The police had been equipped with anti-ghost equipment at some point, but they were still _vastly _inferior to Phantom or the Red Hunter. He had heard though, that the police chief had recently hired some ghost hunters to come in and train a unit of the Amity Park police in the ways of ghost hunting. It had been brought up in the last town meeting.

"I know." Sam said, turning to look out the window as he drove off. They arrived at the graveyard before long, it really wasn't a very long drive after all. Thinking back on it, it really would have been better if Sam had gotten Mr. Hansaw to drive her here in the first place, but she hadn't been thinking straight when she heard the news.

She had been thinking, instead, of the last time that she got a phone call telling her that someone she was close to had gotten into an accident. Although she'd fought them off in hospital, she could feel them now, threatening to come at her in a rush. Stumbling on her feet a bit as she got out of the car, she begged some alone time from Mr. Hansaw, who gave it to her freely. Stumbling through the dark graveyard, she somehow or another found herself in front of Danny's grave, all but collapsing to her knees there.

It overcame her like a tide breaking then, and there was no stopping to it. She'd cried earlier, but now the tears came at her in a rush. She hadn't cried this hard since his funeral, she thought, not the kind of person who was usually given over to this kind of emotion. She was always strong, usually much stronger than this, but this... she couldn't stand it, and found herself letting out a frustrated scream, clawing at the earth in front of her.

And although she didn't want to, she remembered.

* * *

_It had been a normal Friday, Sam, Tucker, and Danny had hung out at the Nasty Burger after school, as was their habit. Danny had told them both about some kind of ghost portal his parents had finished last night, and how proud they had been of it, and how disappointed they were when it didn't even work. It was Sam who brought up the idea of them checking it out tomorrow, to see if maybe they could figure out something that his parents had missed. Danny had laughed it off, his father might have missed something of such critical importance, but he doubted his mother would have._

_But the idea had apparently taken root in Danny's head anyways._

_Sam was working on her homework, wanting to knock it out of the way before the weekend started. She was stuck on a rather difficult math problem when her cell phone rang, displaying Jazz's number. That confused her- she and Danny's sister weren't exactly close, so what on Earth was she doing calling her? She had a strange feeling in her gut as she reached for the phone, flipping it open._

_"Hello?" Sam said. Frowning, she could suddenly hear the distant blare of sirens, and they seemed to be coming from the other end of the phone line._

_"S-Sam? This is Sam, right?" She heard Jazz stammer out on the other end of the line. __**That **__got her attention. Jazz normally didn't act like that, and the feeling in her gut tightened._

_"It's me." Sam said. "Did something happen over there? Is everyone alright?"_

_"N-no." Jazz stammered. "Sam, I don't know how to say this but..." She could hear Jazz sniffing on the other side of the line- was she crying? "There's been an accident."_

_Sam felt herself grow cold, her heart sinking in her chest._

_"Sam, Danny's __**dead**__."_

_Sam dropped the phone._

* * *

"Man, don't these guys have anything better to do?" Phantom grumbled as he flew back from his second trip to the abandoned Fenton Works building, to deposit a second batch of ghosts there. "It's been three years and they've never been able to beat me once, you think they would learn better than to come here already." He complained, shaking his head. Maybe things would die down now, hopefully, and he could spend some free time, maybe catch a late night movie with a free invisibility pass. Ghost hunting might fill up the hours, but it wasn't exactly the way he liked to spend all of his free time.

The sound of sobbing caught his ears then, and Phantom tilted his head, frowning, trying to determine where it was coming from. Glancing down, he noticed that he was currently flying over the graveyard. Well, people crying in a graveyard was hardly anything new, but this late at night? It caught his attention, needless to say. Gazing downwards, he looked to see who this curious late night mourner was.

And almost felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest.

Glowing green eyes fixed on her, unable to wrench himself away from the sight. He hadn't been there for his own funeral of course, it had been weeks at least, before he'd gained consciousness as a ghost, so he had never seen Sam at it. He'd never seen her broken down and beaten up like she appeared to be right now, and it got to him, shot through him straight like a spear. Ghostly obsession or no ghostly obsession, the end result of seeing this would have probably been the same, and even though somewhere in the back of his head, alarm bells were ringing, warning him to stay away, to not get himself involved, before he knew it, he had flown down next to her.

"Hey, uh," Phantom began, rubbing the back of his neck, not quite knowing what to say. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

Sam blinked, pulling herself out of her sobbing fit, a few stray sniffles giving way to a startled expression as her gaze met Phantom's. Suddenly, strangely enough, she felt almost vaguely embarrassed, being seen like this by someone she hardly knew, and one of Amity Park's most famous ghosts at that. Shooting straight up, she laughed nervously, wiping away a few stray tears. "P-phantom." She stammered, glancing around the graveyard. "Fancy seeing you twice in one day."

"No, I mean, really, are you okay?" Phantom asked again, feeling like he had just taken a sucker punch upon seeing Sam's face, make up running due to her tears. "You were... crying pretty hard."

"It's nothing, it's just..." Sam began to tell him, and then frowned, shaking her head. "No, I don't suppose it's nothing, exactly." She admitted, turning back to look at him. "My parents got involved in a car accident. A hit and run, drunk driver... they don't know if my mom will make it." She found herself telling him, without fully understanding why. Why was she telling Phantom these things? There was no way he'd really care about them, and somehow, for some reason, Sam found herself strangely comforted by the ghost's presence, as if he had always been there.

That was another sucker punch, and Phantom recalled how much of a hurry Sam had been in after she'd spoken with Mr. Hansaw a few hours ago. She must have heard the news then, and knowing Sam the way he did, she had probably ran straight for the hospital. He knew full well that Sam didn't always get along with her parents, but that she still cared for them. And to possibly lose her mother just three years after she had lost her best friend? Phantom could barely even start to comprehend what she was feeling now.

He felt more than a little bit guilty now, and he knew it must have shown on his face, because he saw Sam's expression change, seeming puzzled. Phantom quickly pushed such emotions aside, slipping on a mask. "I'm sorry to hear that." He told her after a moment. "I hope they catch the people in question." He said, making a mental note to find them himself, if he could, and give them a piece of his mind. _Nobody _upset Sam like this.

"I'm sure they will." Sam said after a moment, looking at the ghost strangely. What exactly had been that expression she'd seen on his face? It had been so brief, that she hadn't exactly been able to place it. "Um," She said, suddenly feeling nervous, as if only just now fully realizing that she was standing next to Phantom, Amity Park's most infamous and dangerous ghost. "I have to get back before Mr. Hansaw starts to worry about me." She began to say, slowly starting to back away from him.

Without meaning to, Phantom found himself reaching out, catching Sam's wrist, taking a firm hold of it. She shivered at the contact, and not just due to Phantom's ice cold body temperature. As if suddenly realizing what he had just done, Phantom paled, snatching his hand away, and stepped back, glancing away from Sam. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah, go on, Sam."

"A-ah, right." Sam stammered, gazing nervously at the ghost. _Why did he? _It was almost as if he didn't want her to go, didn't want her to leave. But why would that make any sense? This was only the second time they had met, and the first time had barely even been for a minute. There was definitely something off-putting about this ghost, that she hadn't noticed during their first meeting. Backing away from him slowly, as if to make sure that he didn't try to stop her again, she eventually turned around and walked briskly towards the graveyard house.

Halfway there, she came to a grinding halt, something suddenly dawning on her.

When had she told Phantom her name?

Whipping around, Sam looked towards where she had last seen Phantom, but the white haired ghost was already gone.

* * *

"It's official." Phantom said, floating above the graveyard, keeping himself invisible. He looked over his hand, the one he'd used to grab Sam's wrist, frowning at it, as if it somehow held all the answers. "Tucker's going to kill me."

_Or at the very least cram me in the Fenton Thermos to make sure I don't do anything __**else **__like this._

That thought wasn't a pleasant one, and it wouldn't have made the first time that Danny had been crammed in the Fenton Thermos either. He could understand why the ghosts he captured inside of it didn't like it- it wasn't exactly made with a ghost's comfort in mind.

Pushing it aside, Phantom found himself drifting back towards Fenton Works without thinking about it. Phasing through the building, he found himself drawn unconsciously towards the second floor, to where his old bedroom had been. In all the time he'd been in Amity Park as a ghost, Phantom had never actually gone beyond the first floor of Fenton Works, unable to bring himself to go up to the second floor. But now, suddenly, here he was, floating in the middle of his old bedroom.

It was the first time he had been in it since the accident, and what he found floored him. Everything was still there, still exactly as he had left it that day he had died. Dropping down to the floor, feet meeting the dusty ground, he glanced around, finding all of his posters in place, his sheets still unmade on the bed, half finished homework still on the table. It was if no one had ever been inside of it since then either, and it was the strangest feeling.

Shaking himself out of it, Phantom frowned, walking through the length of the room. He paused in front of the mirror, as if growing transfixed by his own face. He didn't have much cause to look at it recently, after all, and found a stray hand drifting up towards his hair, lightly pulling on one of the white locks. Frowning deeply, he dropped his hand, eyes darting over towards and old photograph, left behind. Staring at him were light blue eyes and black hair, but when he turned back to the mirror, what he was faced back were eerie, glowing green eyes, and snow white hair, a good deal longer than it was when he was alive.

"Man, _I _don't even recognize me anymore." Phantom frowned, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. "Forget my parents doing so." He shook his head, laughing aloud as he began to float once more, hovering slightly off the ground. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he floated out the door, pausing briefly to look back at it, somewhat startled to notice that the door had been barred by chain locks. Judging from the dust and rust alike, it looked as if the locks hadn't been touched since he had died. They must have put them up right after his passing.

"Well, now _I'm_ creeped out." Phantom said aloud, speaking to no one in particular. He laughed a little at that, shaking his head. "And I'm supposed to be the ghost here." Chuckling, he floated down the stairs, glancing around the living room. For all he knew, this might be the last time he would ever be able to come in her easily. It was strange, and he suddenly found himself feeling rather sentimental. Frowning a little, he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around. He hadn't come to Fenton Works for anything but raiding the basement or sending ghosts back to the ghost zone since his death, but strangely enough, he found himself drawn to the place today.

Well, since this might be the last night and all, maybe it would be fine to spend the night here for a change.

It was the sound of her phone that dragged Sam out of her slumber, and she pulled herself up, yawning heavily. Blinking sleep out of her eyes, not even recalling when she had managed to fall asleep, last night's memories suddenly came back to her in a rush, and she found herself scrambling for her cell phone, all but pouncing on the thing. Flipping it open and jamming it towards her ear, she yelled into it. "Hello!"

Too loud, she thought, as she could hear the person on the other side of the phone wince. "S-sorry." Sam stammered. "Is this the hospital?" She hadn't checked what number was onscreen before she answered it.

"Yes." A man replied, and Sam recognized him as the doctor she had spoken to last night. "Is this Miss Samantha Manson?"

"Yes, it is." Sam said, hearing her heart pound in her chest. What about her parents, she almost wanted to scream, get on with it already man.

"We have some good news." The doctor told her brightly, and it was like a wave of relief washed over Sam, drowning everything else out. When she realized the doctor was still speaking, she had to apologize and asked him to repeat himself. "Your mother survived the night, it seems, although she's not quite in the clear yet. Your father hasn't regained consciousness yet either, but we have confidence that he should be waking up sometime soon. You're a very lucky girl, Samantha."

Sam thought she had fought off that urge to cry out in joy, but apparently not, given the wince she heard on the other side of the phone, and Mr. Hansaw's stomping feet, racing up to the guest bedroom he had lent her. He burst in the door about the same time as the doctor on the other end asked her if she was alright, panting and at a loss for breath.

"Oh, sorry." Sam stammered, speaking to both of them. "I was just a little overexcited." She said, and then mouthed to Hansaw that it was 'good news'. The man seemed glad to hear it, and from the look on his face, Sam felt that he had some good news of his own to tell her. "Thank you very much, doctor." She said back into the phone. "Will you contact me if there is anymore news?" She asked him.

"Of course." The doctor obliged, before hanging up. Closing her phone, Sam turned to Mr. Hansaw, untangling herself from out of the bedcovers, before she stood up.

"Mom made it through the night." She told him, unable to keep herself from smiling. "They still can't say for sure at this point if she'll make it or not, but she made it through the night."

"That's wonderful news!" Mr. Hansaw said, walking over towards her and clamping his arms around her in a tight hug. Realizing what he was doing, he laughed, backing away from her. "Sorry about that. But I have some good news of my own as well. Apparently, they caught the people who did the hit and run on your parents. They turned themselves in after they sobered up and realized what they had done. They're in police custody right now."

That was indeed good news. "I'm glad." Sam said, letting out a sigh of relief. Glancing down at her crumpled clothes, she laughed a little. "If it's all the same to you, Mr. Hansaw, I'm going to go back home for awhile. I need to get some fresh clothes." She told him. "Wait." She paused, suddenly realizing something. "Exactly what time is it?"

"Nine thirty in the morning." Hansaw told her, and laughed a little as he saw Sam blanch. "Don't worry, I already contacted the school. Let's get you home for now, and you can shower up and then think about going." He told her.

"Right, thank you." Sam smiled at him, already sitting down to tug on her combat boots. She paused a little then, biting her lip. "Do you think I could still stay here for awhile?" She asked him. "It doesn't sound like either of my parents will be home for awhile, and I don't exactly like the idea of staying home alone for who knows how long." She admitted. "I mean, if it's not any trouble to you, Mr. Hansaw."

"No, not at all!" He told her, grinning down at her. "In fact, the company would be nice for a change. Do you want some breakfast first, or would you like to head straight home for a shower and your things?"

"Ugh, no offense, Mr. Hansaw, but I think a shower." Sam said, crinkling her nose. "I'm starting to smell, I think."

The grave keeper laughed at that, heading downstairs to give her a bit of privacy.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight, Danny." Tucker began. The two of them had grabbed a spot on the school roof, Tucker skipping his first and second friend to discuss strategy with his best friend. "After telling me you weren't going to talk to her again, you wound up talking to Sam _again_?"

"Well what was I supposed to do, Tuck?" Phantom asked him, spreading his hands and shrugging his shoulders. "Just ignore her when she's in distress? Part of which, I can guess was sort of my fault? She is my friend you know."

"I know, I know Danny, it's just..." Tucker shook his head. "Look, I'm not going to get mad at you. I would have done the same thing in your shoes. But I thought you has resolved yourself to not get involved with Sam?" He asked.

"I know, I know." Phantom said with a frown. "And I won't, not any further than this." He told him. "Cross my heart and," he paused, considering what he was about to say. "Well, you know."

"Tracking down and beating up the preps who did the hit and run on her parent's car is not exactly what I have in mind when I think of 'not getting involved', Danny." Tucker told him, arching an eyebrow.

"Wait, _what_?" Phantom asked him, looking baffled. "I _didn't,_ Tucker. I thought about it, sure, but I decided against it, didn't know if I could control myself."

"Huh." Tucker blinked, frowning. "'Cause the information I got was that someone had tossed the pair in charge in front of the police station early this morning, all black and blue. They were too scared to say who it was. I sort of just assumed it was you- I mean, I don't exactly know anyone else in Amity Park who is, no offense, that scary."

"None taken, I know my reputation." Phantom said, laughing a little. "Not exactly the best."

"You thinking of joining the understatement of the year contest?" Tucker asked him, laughing. "Your reputation is more or less in the garbage, dude. And I say that knowing what _actually _happened."

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to the choir." Phantom frowned, lying back on the roof. "So you did say that Sam's mom made it, right? I mean, that's what they said in the papers. She was awfully worked up about that last night."

Tucker shrugged. "For now at least, yeah. Who knows if it'll stay that way, her condition's not exactly stable as it stands right now. But aside from that Danny- what exactly are you going to do about your parents?" He asked him.

"My parents, huh." Phantom closed his eyes. "Well, for one thing, you're going to be a lot more careful about who you call me Danny around. I mean, what if someone _else _overheard you? The less people who know who I was when I was alive, the better."

"You mean someone other than me?"

Phantom's eyes snapped open, his body tensing as he heard the voice. His shoulders slumped though as he met the girl's eyes, and he rolled his own. "Yeah, someone other than you Valerie. When did you even get here? You move more quietly than I do sometimes, I swear."

"It's a secret." Valerie Gray observed, arching her eyebrows. "What's this I hear about your folks anyways, Fenton?" She asked, sitting down next to the pair, glancing between them. The boys exchanged looks, before looking back at Valerie. "What, sorry, am I interrupting the sausage fest or something?" She asked.

"No, sorry, I'm just not entirely used to you not gunning for my head." Phantom admitted.

"It's been a year since we've declared a truce, I thought you would have gotten used to it by now. I even had the good grace to forgive you for costing my father his job." Valerie said, frowning in his direction, to which Phantom winced. That was another black mark on his less than stellar reputation. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're the only other competent ghost hunter aside from me in this whole city, and I can use your help at times. Although I did hear that they were bringing two ghost hunters in to train the police- _oh."_

It seemed to dawn on Valerie again. "So that's why you were talking about your folks, I gotcha." She said, nodding her head. "Well that's gonna be pretty awkward for you, Fenton. You going to tell them you're their son?"

"Would you?" Phantom asked her.

"To be honest? _No_." Valerie shrugged her shoulders. "Your reputation is in shambles, and I'm not sure they'd stick around long enough to listen to you ramble on about memories or have Tucker vouch for you."

"A reputation, I might add, that you are in part responsible for." Phantom pointed out, eying her.

"Look, I didn't know you were Danny Fenton then, and you didn't exactly do a lot of things to sway my thinking before that." Valerie told him, meeting his glare. Tucker glanced nervously between them, wondering if he needed to step in and break them up. He often found himself playing peacemaker between these two whenever they were in the same room.

His best friend, of course, was Phantom, Amity Park's most infamous ghost, but also it's first line of defense against the rest of the ghosts in the city. And Valerie Gray was also known as the Red Hunter, although nobody outside Tucker and Danny even knew that. The mysterious female ghost hunter, who got around on a jet sled, with high tech weapons that put the little ecto pistol that Tucker carried with him to shame. The two boys still had no idea who it was that was providing Valerie with her tech and gear, though she claimed she had cut them off recently.

It was purely by accident that Valerie had learned that Phantom and Danny Fenton were the same person. She had overheard the pair having an argument, and although there was nothing strange about seeing Tucker Foley around Phantom, all of Amity Park more or less knowing that he and the ghost boy were friends, it was another thing when Valerie overhead Tucker calling him 'Danny' over and over again.

Valerie had always expected that Phantom was once a living person, rather than a sentient blob of ectoplasm like some of the ghosts that haunted Amity Park were. She just didn't know it was someone that she had known when he was alive, someone whose death had shaken Casper High. Danny wasn't exactly a popular kid when he was alive, far from it, in fact, he was constantly picked on. But it had struck a nerve with the students at school, the idea that someone that people, one way or another, knew, could have been killed so suddenly, so out of the blue.

Valerie didn't exactly know Danny all that well when he had been alive, considering that she had been a member of the A List at that time. Not anymore, she had fallen from grace almost the moment her father had lost her job and had landed them in huge debt. But she did recall Danny Fenton being a nice kid, who she had admittedly, once or twice, thought was just a little bit cute, and the child of two ghost hunters. It was the irony that got her at first, the idea that someone born from two ghost hunting parents could have ended up becoming one of the most feared ghosts in all of Amity Park.

But it got her thinking. And got her looking into things, turning over stones she hadn't turned over before. And she'd learned things. With her new knowledge, she confronted Tucker with what she knew, and more or less got the truth from him. Valerie had thought over this for awhile, and the more she thought about it, the more times she recalled Phantom trying to help her, or Phantom trying really hard to do his best not to do her harm when they were fighting, and she realized that maybe her preconception of him had been wrong.

Valerie had called the truce through Tucker, though Phantom wasn't willing to believe her at first. No big surprise there, she thought, recalling her own disbelief at times when the ghost boy had tried to call a truce with her himself. Eventually, though, they had worked things out, and so, here they were now. Phantom still wasn't entirely comfortable around her, so it seemed, but honestly, she couldn't blame him.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Phantom admitted, frowning as he lay back down against the school roof. "So what, mom and dad are coming back to train some police officers to fight ghosts? That just sounds wonderful. Why didn't they get the famous Red Hunter to do it, I wonder?"

"Probably because they know I'm not antagonizing you anymore." Valerie pointed out. "You know full well why Mayor Masters wants to prep the police force against you. After all, how many previous mayors did you attack?"

"_One. _And we've only had one before Masters!" Phantom protested. "Besides, that wasn't my fault, he was overshadowed. I _told _you that already."

"You know that, I know that, and Tucker knows that." Valerie told him. "And that's it. You can't blame the guy for trying to take precautions against Amity Park's ghost menace. That said, I don't like the guy myself. Does anyone else get some kind of creeper vibe from him? He sounds like the kind of guy to pine endlessly over the woman he lost to his best friend for years."

"Yeah, the kind of guy who needs to get a lonely guy cat." Tucker chimed in, grinning.

"Or the kind that programs a computer AI with aforementioned woman's personality." Phantom added. "No but seriously, I get the strangest vibe from him sometimes. How did he get elected again?"

"Probably related to him being the richest man in America." Tucker pointed out. "Voters ate up the idea of such a powerful man coming to Amity Park and wanting to live here. Constant ghost attacks have kind of made us unpopular, you know."

"Ah, right, of course." Phantom frowned. "As for my parents, I don't really know what I plan to do about them. Or Jazz for that matter, assuming she's coming back with them. She is, right?" He asked, glancing over at Tucker.

"That's what she said, man." Tucker shrugged.

"Right." Phantom said. "I don't know, _maybe _I'd let Jazz know. But I don't know if I can trust her to keep her mouth shut around my parents or Sam for that matter."

"Speaking of Sam, Fenton, was it you who beat up those men who rammed her parent's car?" Valerie asked. "Not that I can really blame you if you did."

"I just got done telling Tucker it wasn't me. I'm as in the dark as you two are." Danny told her.

"Right, just checking." Valerie told him, with a frown. Below them, the bell rang, indicating that second period was over.

"That's me, Danny." Tucker said, standing up. "Can't afford to skip three classes in a row. I'll catch up with you later. You coming, Valerie?" He asked, glancing down at her.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Can't afford to miss more classes either." She stood up, dusting off her skirt. "Catch you later, Fenton. I'll cover for you around your folks if you need it." She told him.

"Got it, thanks Valerie." Phantom said, watching them go.

He knew one thing at least- his afterlife was going to get a whole lot more complicated.

He just had no idea of how much _more _complicated.

* * *

"I really never thought we would be coming back here again." Jasmine Fenton admitted as she got out of her parent's RV. They had just arrived back in Amity Park late in the evening, a few days ahead of schedule, in fact. As she looked at the old Fenton Works building, she frowned, wincing at how run down the place had looked. Well, that was to be expected, as nobody had lived there for about three years. There were traces that people had been inside though, footprints left in the dust. Most likely people using it as a secret hideout, or something of that nature, since there was nothing in there worth being stolen, and the basement was still locked up tight.

"Neither did I, sweetie." Maddie confessed, carrying in a box of clothing. "But Vlad was pretty insistent about it. And he is an old friend you know, so we couldn't exactly turn him down. Who knew that in the time we were gone, such a dangerous ghost as Phantom would appear in Amity Park?"

"I can't wait to see him myself so I can use the Fenton Ghost Ranker to see how powerful he really is." Jack added in, coming up behind them, lugging a heavy box with him. "Wow, this place really has gone to the dogs." Jack noted, looking around. "Maybe we should hire a maid to clean this place."

"Ugh, you might be on to something there, Jack." Maddie crinkled her nose, frowning a little as everything she did kicked up a new layer of dust.

"Shouldn't we go and check up on things in the lab?" Jack asked her.

"I don't know, Jack, I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to see that _thing _again." Maddie confessed, glancing towards the locked and chained basement door. "Not the thing that stole our baby boy away from us. To be honest, if it wasn't a request from Vlad himself, I don't think I would have even been okay with the idea of coming back here, to this place. There's just too many memories of him everywhere."

"I know what you mean, Maddie." Jack nodded his head, expression grim for once. "I still can't believe it myself, sometimes. Find myself turning around, expecting him to be there, even though I know full well he's not."

"Well, I think this might be a healthy step in our mourning process." Jazz chimed in. "We shouldn't have run away from it in the first place."

"That some fancy babble from those psychology books of yours, young lady?" Jack asked, glancing back down at her. "Ah, but maybe you're right."

"I just hope we don't run into his ghost while we're here, if he's left one." Maddie commented, heading out the door to get more boxes, Jack and Jazz following behind her.

Jazz blinked. "Well, why not? Wouldn't that give us all a chance to see him again?" She asked.

"Oh, Jazz, honey, not really." Maddie told her, glancing back at her daughter with sad eyes. "I'm sure I've told you this before, but ghost aren't the same as the people they once were. They move based on their obsessions, most of the time, they don't think like humans. That's why so many of them are malicious. I would hate to see my baby boy having ended up that way."

"Maddie's right. But given that neither Tucker or Sam have seem to run into his ghost, I think it's safe to say that Danny didn't leave one." Jack assured his wife, putting a large hand on her back.

The three Fentons were unaware that they were being watched, an invisible figure perched on the building next to them. His glowing green eyes watched the family, listening in on their conversation as they unpacked. He knew he probably shouldn't be here, but he wanted to see them at least, so when he heard from Tucker that they had been spotted returning to the city, he'd flown over right away. It was strange to see them again, seeing them older than he remembered them.

Their conversation did nothing but confirm his worst fears, and now he knew for sure that telling them that Phantom was really their son, Danny Fenton, would do nothing to change their opinion of him. In fact, it was even more reason to not tell them- they were better off without knowing that fact. He didn't want to have to see the expressions on their faces when they learned that their own son had become the most infamous ghost in Amity Park. They had already suffered through enough when he died, it would be better off if they didn't know that as well.

Phantom laughed a little as he watched his family interact below him, for all the world still seeming the same as they had been when he was alive. But there were echoes there, hints of sadness that they concealed well. They hadn't gotten over it yet, and they probably never would. They probably never expected to bury their son and younger brother before themselves.

He frowned a little as his mother paused when she went to take a box out of the back of the trailer attached to the Fenton RV. She seemed to strain her ears, listening for something, before she paused, setting the box down on the ground. Pulling out a boot knife, she cut it open and pulled out a beeping device from it, a little rotating satellite dish attached to it. He watched as his mother looked up, eyes locking on straight to where Phantom was sitting.

"Jack, come quick, there's a ghost here!" Maddie called out.

"What, already?" Jack cried, the large man dashing out the front door.

"And that most likely would be my cue to leave." Phantom said, standing up and turning visible. He grinned at the Fenton couple, before he turned and flew off in the opposite direction. The next time they met, he was almost certain it would be with them pointing a weapon at him.

"Jack, that was Phantom!" Maddie declared, staring as the ghost flew off. She had heard that the ghost was fast, but he was gone in almost the blink of an eye. Furthermore, Maddie got the feeling that he had been watching them since they had arrived here- perhaps he was checking out the new ghost hunters, sizing them up, she thought. She had heard that Phantom was given over to some sort of semblance of logical thought, so it was likely.

She hadn't really expected him to look almost human, though. Aside from the white hair and green eyes and ghostly glow, he all too closely resembled a normal seventeen year old boy. Something told Maddie that hunting this ghost would be no easy challenge. "I think he was spying on us."

"Did you get a power reading on him?" Jack asked, searching around for the ghost in question, seeming depressed that he had missed him.

"Not manually, no, but the Fenton Finder should have it in it's memory. It as a good call, Jack, to install the features of the Fenton Ghost Ranker on it." She told her husband with a small smile, working the device a bit. She paled a little, from what the readings told her. If it was right, and the Ranker wasn't broken, then this would have been the first time they had encountered such a ghost.

"Jack, it says here that Phantom is an S Class." She told her husband, glancing over at him.

"Are you sure, Maddie?" Jack took the Fenton Finder from her, looking at it himself.

"What's so special about an S Class?" Jazz asked, joining them. She had missed Phantom as well, but she had heard the commotion.

"Just that, Jazzarincess!" Her father told her, handing the Fenton Finder back to Maddie. "S Class stands for 'Special Class'. Ghosts are ranked from F to A, for the most part, with F being the weakest, and A being the strongest." He explained. "But among those ghosts, there are ghosts who are S Class, and stand above the rest of the lot. They are very powerful, and very dangerous because of it. Not to be fooled lightly with. No wonder Vlad needed our help, if he's got an S Class running around in his city!"

Jazz paled a little, she couldn't help it. She once thought all of her parents ghost talk was utter nonsense, but when Amity Park turned into ghost central after they left, she started to take it all a little more seriously. "That sure is something."

"I'll say." Her mother said, frowning as she stowed the Fenton Finder back in the box, seeing that there were no other ghosts in the vicinity. They would have to keep their guards up, knowing what they knew now.

But she also found it somewhat strange- most S Class ghosts were incredibly malicious. If that was the case, how had Phantom been here for three years? Surely if that were the case, he would have destroyed the city already and moved on to the next. It struck her as odd, and she couldn't help but wonder what exactly was keeping Phantom here.


	5. Town Hall Meeting

Author's Note: Well, here's this I guess! I almost thought I wouldn't be able to post this up today, because my Internet has been out since three in the afternoon. It just came back up an hour or so ago, so yay?

Danny Phantom isn't mine, though Mr. Hansaw is.

* * *

Graveyard Shift REDUX

Chapter Five: Town Hall Meeting

It was not long after the Fentons had finished unloading their things, that they had their first house guest. Vladimir Masters, the mayor of Amity Park, and an old college friend of Jack's, had shown up on their front door, bearing both a lovely fruit basket, and an extensive file of information on Phantom and the Amity Park ghost task force. Jack had put the fruit basket aside, and both of the adult Fentons had taken to the Phantom file like moths drawn to flame, the task force file sitting forgotten for the moment. After dusting off the old couch they had left behind some, they sat down, and invited Vlad to take a chair, apologizing for all of the dust. They hadn't had a chance to clean.

"But it sure is good to see you again, Vladdie!" Jack went on, grinning brightly. "It feels like it's been years! I see you've done mighty well for yourself since that whole messy ecto-acne business though." Jack said. "Richest man in America, and even the mayor of a whole city! Who would have thought, huh?"

"Yes well," Vlad began, giving his old friend a cold smile, eyes unreadable. "All those years in the hospital did help me plot out a course for my life. I was just surprised that when I moved here, the two of you had already left! I had come all the way to Amity Park hoping to see you, and you were gone. Oh, no matter, I can understand why though. I am terribly sorry about your son, Maddie, I hear it was a terrible accident." He told her, directing his sympathies specifically towards her.

"Yes well," Maddie frowned, eyes downcast. "It would be a lie to say that we've gotten over it. Most likely we never will." She told him. "But it gets a little easier as the days go by. To be honest though Vlad, if you had asked us to come back to Amity Park a year ago, we probably would have turned you down. I don't think we would have been ready to come back to this old house then."

"No yes, I understand that perfectly." Vlad said, nodding his head. "I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a child. And only fourteen! What a shame, what a shame, his whole life ahead of him. I would have loved to meet this Daniel." He told them, frowning deeply. "But I am glad that you're here. We could use more than just a little help with Phantom and his ilk." He confessed.

"Yes, I understand that." Maddie nodded her head, opening up the file. Jack scooted over in order to get a better view, and she balanced the file between their laps. Sorting through the information, which contained Phantom sightings, lists of known powers and abilities, habits, locations he seemed to frequent, and any number of various bits of information on him, they came to a file that made them both pause. It had been titled 'Known Associates of Phantom', and right at the top of the list was a name that they both recognized.

"Tucker? Tucker Foley?" Jack said, sounding confused. "Why Maddie, that was one of Danny's friends. What on Earth is he doing talking to the ghost boy? I thought we had impressed upon him the dangers of associating with ghosts."

"Ah yes, Tucker Foley." Vlad said after a moment. "Yes, people see him around Phantom quite a bit. Seems to help him with this nonsense hero business the ghost has going on." He scoffed at that, clearly not buying it. "For all the world the two of them seem like friends, and I've never really noticed Phantom trying to harm the boy in any way, so I've never entirely been worried for his safety... should I be?"

"It's hard to say." Maddie said after a moment. "My gut reaction says yes, but Phantom seems to be a fairly logical ghost. He _thinks_, at least on some level, rather than react on base instinct. That's rare for a ghost. And if I recall Tucker, he can make himself very useful, so I would think Phantom would see merit to having a human companion around to assist him." Frowning, she tapped a finger against her legs. "On the other hand, should Tucker cease to prove useful, it may very well be that he would be abandoned."

"And this Valerie Gray, right under him, what about her?" Jack asked. "I notice that they're the only two names on the list that have been highlighted."

"Ah yes. Another one of Phantom's friends, you could say, though this one is more recent. What's strange is, before a year ago, Valerie Gray seemed to give off the impression that she hated Phantom." Vlad told them. "He was, after all, partly responsible for the destruction of Axion Labs, where Miss Gray's father was employed as chief of security. Not only was he fired after that, but he landed himself in a huge debt having to repay the Axion for the reconstruction. Now however, the two of them seem thick as thieves. You could say they're..." Vlad frowned, trying to come up with a name for them. "...some kind of team. Team Phantom, perhaps?"

"Well, whatever the case, we'll be sure to talk with the both of them." Maddie said. "Perhaps they don't fully understand the danger they're in by doing this. If so, Jack, we really should impress it open them. We have some spare Specter Deflectors, don't we, that we could give to them to ward off Phantom?"

"That we do, Maddie!" Jack said, nodding his head. "They're somewhere in all of these blasted boxes, I'll look for them tonight."

"Great. We can't have one of Danny's good friends running around with such a dangerous ghost!" Maddie said. "Speaking of Phantom though, Vlad, we already had a brief encounter with him. He was watching us unpack. He flew off when we noticed him, however, so there wasn't a confrontation. But we did get a power ranking for him." Her expression grim, she met Vlad's eyes. "Phantom is an S Class ghost. Rare and powerful, and not something to be easily trifled with. We're going to need to impress that on people without causing any kind of mass panic."

"I see." Vlad frowned, leaning back in his chair, putting a hand to his chin. "Yes, that _is _troubling." Tapping his chin, he glanced between the two Fentons, before his gaze settled on Maddie again. "Well, there are many townsfolk who consider Phantom to be a hero, especially the teenagers. And if all he ever did was play hero, then frankly we wouldn't be having this discussion." Vlad told them. "But the instances of him doing... otherwise while infrequent, are too much to ignore. There are other things about him that seem to bother me. Did you know he seems to age? At a normal rate, too."

"No." Maddie blinked, looking slightly startled by this information. Digging through the Phantom file, Jack and Maddie found several photographs, arranged by date. Vlad hadn't been exaggerating- the earliest Phantom sightings had him looking somewhere around thirteen to fourteen years old, but he'd grown over the past three years, now looking roughly around sixteen. For a brief moment, Maddie was struck by the fact that his starting age meant that he would have died when he was Danny's age. She shook the thought off, however, reasoning that it would be next to impossible for a ghost to ascend to S Class level within just three years. It was a process that took time.

Maddie cringed internally, realizing she had just, for a moment, considered the option that Phantom was her precious Danny. It was a thought that churned her stomach, and she dismissed it immediately. There was no chance,_ no way_, that her son could turn out to be something like Phantom. And despite what she had told Jazz earlier, the thought of having to hunt down her son didn't appeal to her at all, and she would rather not have to do it.

"He's right, Maddie, look at these!" Jack declared, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I've never seen this in a ghost before. Look, if you look between these photos, you could swear he went through puberty even, between them. It's not only his height either, but his hair has also grown." Jack found himself chuckling. "I guess you can't find a good barber when you're a ghost!" He told Maddie, laughing at his own joke.

"It may be related in a way to his power ranking." Maddie mused. "Not much is known about S Class ghosts, only a handful have ever been seen." A thought struck her, and she glanced over at Vlad. "About Tucker Foley again- has he been seen with Phantom since his first appearance?"

Vlad frowned, trying to recall if this was the case. "More or less, I believe so. It was a few months after the ghost portal that anyone ever noticed Phantom, so I can't say for sure. Why?"

"Phantom might be aging, if you could call it that, in order to keep up with Tucker." Maddie explained. "What puzzles me is _why_. If that theory is true, then it would be likely that remaining young as Tucker grew older would somehow bother him, but I can't see why it would. At least, I've never heard of a ghost bothered by it's age." She said.

"A puzzle indeed." Vlad said, before he was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. "Ah, yes, that would be my cue to go. Maddie, it's been lovely to meet you again." He told her, his voice light as he stood up. His gaze and tone hardened however, when he turned to Jack. "Jack."

"Good to see you again, Vladdie!" Jack grinned, giving the mayor a pat on the back, which sent him stumbling forward. "You can drop by here any time you like! I'm sure Jazz would love to meet you someday! Right now she's sleeping off the drive in her room, so you'll have to excuse her."

Rubbing his back, forcing back an angry expression, Vlad picked up his cell phone. "Ah, yes, well, some other time then." He smiled at them, before answering the person on the other line.

"See Jack?" Maddie turned to her husband, giving him a sweet smile after Vlad left. "I told you he had forgiven you for the ecto-acne incident. Now the _backwash _incident, I'm not so sure about." She said with a small frown.

"Right you are, Maddie! I was silly to even be worried about it!" Jack laughed, giving his wife a tight hug. A more sober expression came across his face then, and he glanced down at her. "Maddie, do you think perhaps we should think of what to do with Danny's room now that we're back? We can't just keep it chained up forever." He told her.

"I know Jack, I know." Maddie said. "I'm just not ready to be confronted with it, to be honest. Perhaps once this Phantom business is over, I'll figure out what to do. But for now, I think it's best if we just leave it as it is."

Jack nodded, giving his wife another tight squeeze. It was hard, it was very hard, having to deal with the loss of their son. And the thought that it had been one of their very own inventions that had done it- it was almost enough for the Fentons to give up altogether on ghost hunting. But, as fate would have it, it seemed that they were needed now, and now people no longer thought of them as crackpots. If someone had told Jack that the cost of being taken seriously would be his son's life, then he would have been fine with being thought of as a crackpot forever. In the end, he'd still be a crackpot with a son.

* * *

Bright and early the next morning, Vlad had called for a town hall meeting later that afternoon. The time was set for after school let out for the day, which _probably _had something to do with the fact that all of the Casper High student body had been invited to the meeting. Tucker Foley and Valerie Gray had been called out by name, even, leaving no doubt in their minds that this town hall meeting was supposed to be about Phantom. Well, it was to be expected, they weren't exactly subtle about their interactions with Phantom. After all, Phantom sometimes even waited for Tucker after school, and Valerie had been seen more than once lending Phantom a hand when it came to fighting ghosts. Of course, she did this more often than people knew, but the only times they noticed were the times when she wasn't easily able to become the Red Hunter.

"Your folks are probably going to want to talk to me." Tucker said, blearily eyed. They had called for another rooftop meeting (all the students at Casper High knew at this point that the school roof was the domain of Phantom and his two friends, and never went up there), the two students missing their first periods again. "After all, they know who I am, being your friend when you were still alive and all. But don't worry, dude." Tucker assured him, taking a swig of his large coffee. "I won't tell them a thing."

"Neither will I." Valerie assured him, looking rather sleepy herself.

Phantom glanced between the two of them, quirking an eyebrow. "Well, that's all well and good, but why do the two of you look like you've been put through the wringer?" He asked. Grinning a little, he looked at them with a sly expression. "Could it be perhaps that the two of you finally admitted your feelings for each other, and engaged in a night of passion afterwards?"

_That _got a blush from the two African-American teens, causing Tucker to spit out some of his coffee in shock. "I-we're- no, Danny, come on, you know we're just friends!" Tucker blurted out.

"Mm, where have I head that one before?" Phantom observed, raising his brows. "Alright then, so if it wasn't that, what was it? You two have the look like you've been up to something alright."

"Well you know Valerie and I work together with her tech sometimes, right?" Tucker asked him, to which Phantom gave a quick nod. "Well, we spent all of last night working on something for you."

"Something for me?" Phantom asked, tilting his head to the side, a bit curious.

"Right." Valerie said. "If the Fentons have some kind of Ghost Finder like you said they do, it could cause you a few problems, Fenton." She explained. "That's why Tucker and I spent all of last night working on this." She told him, pulling out what appeared to be a small metal bracelet.

"You made me a bracelet." Phantom observed, looking unimpressed.

"Not just any bracelet, dude." Tucker told him, grinning from ear to ear. "If Val and I are right, it'll be the answer to your ghost detection problems." Taking the bracelet from Valerie, he spun it around his finger. "We designed it to suppress your ghostly aura, I guess you could call it. Not only will it handle that pesky ghostly glow of yours, but it will also render you invisible to any ghost radars."

"Well, a wide range scanner might still be able to pick you up." Valerie added.

"Huh." Phantom blinked, taking the bracelet from Tucker, turning it over in his hands. "Any side effects?"

"As far as we can tell, there's a chance you might lose your ghost sense while you're wearing these. Likewise, we don't think you'll be able to fly. They'll make you seem a little more solid." Valerie explained. "Other than that, I think that's it." She told him, shrugging her shoulders. "Take this, and a good hoodie or something, and you'll be able to come to the town hall meeting with us without fear of detection. They'll never see it coming."

"And you know, if the meeting's supposed to be about you, I figure you would want to come." Tucker reasoned, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. It would be nice to know in advance if they're planning anything crazy." Phantom frowned, turning over the bracelet in his hands once more, pocketing it again. "You two had better get to class. It wouldn't do for you guys to be seen spending all day with me, today of all days."

"Yeah, we know." Tucker said, standing up. "I'm out, dude. Going to finish this coffee and hope I can stay awake through class. I'm telling you I am passing out the first chance I get tonight." He laughed, before heading off.

Valerie lingered for a moment, getting to her feet. "We still on for my volleyball game next week?" She asked him. "It's nice to have _someone _come out to the girl's volleyball games." She said with a small, bitter laugh. "Everyone pays attention to our losing football team, and nobody bothers even checking out our winning girl's volleyball team. Do they even understand we have a shot at the Nationals?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Provided I haven't been vaporized by then, sure." Danny told her. "Yeah well, isn't it nice that you have the free time to actually take up an extracurricular sport now?" He asked her. "Look what good having a truce between the two of us has done. We never should have been fighting in the first place."

"Yeah well, I admit I wasn't really thinking straight back then." Valerie confessed, sounding a bit sheepish. "Sorry about that Fenton. And it is kind of nice to be able to pay attention to school for a change. My dad's glad for it too." She told him. Her father was the one who had suggested that she take up a sport, as it would look good on her college application, and given her grades from freshman year and the first part of her sophomore year, she sort of needed all the help she could get.

"No, it's okay." Phantom assured her, then waved a hand. "You'd better get to class."

Sam, meanwhile, was not at school, but was rather at the hospital. She'd gotten a call from the doctor who was taking care of her parents. While there were still no signs of change in her mother, her father had woken up sometime early that morning, and was responding well. Mr. Hansaw had driven her over there after they had eaten breakfast, and Sam had spent the past two hours or so exchanging words with both the doctor and her father.

Her father was doing well, though it looked like he would be in the hospital for awhile longer. Both of his legs had been broken in the accident, so he would be laid up there until they healed. She assured her father that she was alright, and that she wasn't staying home alone, and was sleeping over at Mr. Hansaw's in the meantime. Her father didn't seem to overly object to this, knowing that Sam trusted the man, and as much as he worried sometimes about the people she hung out with, Jeremy Manson really did know on some level that his daughter was a very good judge of character, so anyone she trusted was probably a good person.

He had been depressed to hear that his wife was still in a coma, and Sam had caught that. She was still worried as well, and hoped that she would wake up soon. The doctor was right, her mother wasn't in the clear yet. If she didn't wake up sometime soon, then it might very well be that she would remain asleep forever.

After ensuring that her father, at least, was doing alright, she had gotten back in the car with Mr. Hansaw. As they headed towards her school, he glanced over at her. "You've been looking like you've had something on your mind for the past few days. Something more than just your parents." He added.

"Well, kind of." Sam admitted, glancing over at him. "Mr. Hansaw? What do you know about Phantom?"

"About Phantom?" Hansaw blinked, this not being the question the grave keeper expected. "Hm, well let's see. I guess mostly what everyone knows. Not really decided on where I stand about him though, I'll confess." He told her. "Why do you ask?"

"I've met him." Sam said after a moment. "Just for two brief moments. And he seems... strange." She frowned, mulling over her own words. "I feel almost like I know him in a way, which is silly, because I've never even so much as talked to him before this."

"Maybe you knew him when he was alive." Hansaw suggested, shrugging his shoulders. Buried in her own thoughts, Sam missed the sharp gaze that was half-turned in her direction, the other half focusing on the road.

"No, that couldn't be it." Sam shook her head. "The only people I know who have died are my grandparents, and then Danny." She paused then, her violet eyes narrowing. Danny? She honestly hadn't even considered the possibility yet, hadn't connected the white haired ghost to her best friend, but now that it had been brought up, it started to make a bit of sense. While Phantom didn't look much like the Danny she remembered now, when she thought about it, didn't he look more like him three years ago? She hadn't been in Amity Park at the time, so she couldn't say for sure, but she had seen photographs of him before.

There was also the fact that Phantom was good friends with Tucker Foley, who had also been good friends with Danny. But then again, if Danny _was _Phantom, how come he had never told her about it? Perhaps Phantom wasn't aware of who he was in life, and Tucker had figured it out like she was starting to, and approached him on his own. Something about that didn't sit right with her though, as she couldn't imagine Tucker not telling Phantom about his human life, and Phantom not asking.

If Danny was Phantom, had he been avoiding her? Why would he do that? What had she done to cause him to do something like that? She cringed a little, realizing that she had run off to boarding school almost right after Danny had died, even if she did come back a year later. It had been her parent's idea, really, and she didn't have the strength to resist it back then. She had been too consumed by her own grief, and honestly, there was a part of her that wanted to go somewhere where there weren't memories of Danny at every turn.

Was Danny mad at her for that? Had he felt abandoned by her? Was the fact that he was approaching her now meant that he had forgiven her? It seemed plausible enough.

That is, of course, if Phantom really was Danny. Sam wasn't a hundred percent sure.

"Sam?" The goth girl blinked, realizing that Mr. Hansaw had been calling out to her for some time now. Turning to look up at him, she quickly realized that they had already reached Casper High.

"Oh, sorry!" Sam said quickly. "I was lost in my own thoughts. Don't worry about it, Mr. Hansaw."

"If you're sure, Sam." Hansaw frowned a little. "Did you have anything else you needed to tell me about Phantom? You got all quiet after you mentioned your friend, Danny."

"Oh, no." Sam shook her head. "I was trying to think if I'd ever met him before, but it turned out that I hadn't." She said, laughing a little. "Maybe he just kind of looks like someone I know." She told him, unsure of why she was lying to Mr. Hansaw. Maybe she just didn't want to spread rumors when she wasn't sure of the truth herself. After all, hadn't she heard something about the Fentons moving back to Amity Park? Sam would hate to think what would happen if their son turned out to be the most infamous ghost in the whole town.

"Alright." Hansaw grinned at her. "You go on to school. Remember to stop by the front office and tell them why you were late first!" He called out after her. Watching her go, he started his car back up. He paused then, leaning forward a bit, catching a glimpse of the aforementioned Phantom, flying away from the school building. Eyes narrowing, he pulled out a sheet of paper from the glove compartment, and grabbed a pen, and made a quick scribble on it.

_Phantom= Daniel Fenton?_

Eyes narrowing, Mr. Hansaw flipped the notepad closed, and stuck it back in the glove compartment. Starting up his car, he drove off, lost in his own thoughts as well.

* * *

"Greetings, good citizens of Amity Park." Mayor Vlad Masters spoke, standing in front of town hall at a podium, microphone in front of him letting his voice echo to the back reaches of the crowd.

The teachers of Casper High had all but herded their students to the town hall after school ended, and nobody had really noticed it when an extra student slipped into the crowd. Wearing the ghostly aura blocking bracelet that Valerie and Tucker had made for him (which had been dubbed the Foley Anti-Ghost Radar Bracelet), and a black hoodie, which was currently pulled up to conceal his face. He had opted to stand just behind Valerie, as it would be too suspicious to hang around Tucker.

It felt a bit strange, having his ghostly aura suppressed, but it was kind of nice not to have people staring at him for once. Phantom hadn't even noticed he had found that annoying until he no longer had all eyes on him. Right now, everyone's eyes was fixed on the mayor, and the two jumpsuit clad ghost hunters sitting behind him.

"As you all might have heard by now, I have called in two expert ghost hunters to come to Amity Park and train our very own ghost task force." Vlad said. "So that we can fight ghosts on our own terms, and not have to depend on the enigmatic help of the Red Hunter, or the help of Phantom." That got an equal amount of cheers and boos, and Phantom couldn't help but smirk a little when almost all of Casper High let out a huge boo. Awkwardly, he could hear Tucker's hanging for longer than anyone else's. Upon noticing this, Tucker blushed, and attempted to sink into the ground.

"Yes, well." Vlad arched his eyebrow, unable to help but glance in Tucker's direction. The Foley boy, he noted, with no surprise. "I know that some of you feel that Phantom is a hero- however, I must remind you that trusting a ghost, especially one with such a record as Phantom's, is dangerous and could very well lead to disaster. I am not attempting to discredit his previous heroic acts, make no mistake. But a ghost is a ghost, and who is to say that he will not someday give up his hero ways, and cause havoc like all of the other ghosts that haunt our fair town."

"That is why I have called in Jack and Maddie Fenton, professional ghost hunters. Some of you may already know them, as they were previous residents of Amity Park." Vlad said, spreading his arm out in the direction of the ghost hunters. Jack gave a very enthusiastic wave to the crowd, grinning from ear to ear, pleased with the attention he was getting. "I will now have Maddie speak on the dangers of Phantom, and why we must do our best not only to train ourselves to fight and deal with these ghostly menaces, but also to ensure that Phantom is caught and properly returned from whence he came."

Underneath the noise of the crowd, Phantom snorted, muttering underneath his breath that he was already there.

Maddie stood up, taking center stage. After adjusting the microphone to her level, she cleared her throat and gazed over the crowd. "Yes, good afternoon." She began, her voice clear and concise. "My name is Maddie Fenton, some of you may already know me. I hunt ghosts for a living, and create equipment to deal with ghosts. Many of the ecto pistols already in circulation amongst the ghost task force have been designed by us." She told them.

"I know that it may seem to all of you like Phantom is a big hero." Maddie spoke. "And in some ways, I will not deny that he is." She said. "However, you must understand something about a ghost's nature. They are obsessive, there is not a ghost without an obsession. No matter what, that obsession will eventually consume them, turning them evil. It is only a matter of time before Phantom turns dangerous, as past events had already shown, such as the kidnapping of the mayor, the bank robberies, and his actions leading to the destruction of a small city block." She held up her hands to the booing the last one got. "Yes, I am fully aware that Phantom's actions only indirectly lead to the explosion, and the real culprit was someone else. However, it was Phantom's own reckless actions that allowed this to happen. Had he allowed the police to work normally without his interferences, then this tragedy could have been avoided."

"That is why we must act now, and not wait until the inevitable happens." Maddie told them. "Phantom is nothing more than a ticking time bomb, to depend on him is a folly. If we wait, he will only gain more power than he already has- power, which I must add, is already far too strong for my liking. Our most recent power ranking of Phantom, as of yesterday evening, placed him at the rank of an S Class ghost. That is the highest any ghost can reach. We must deal with him now, while he is still fairly placid, otherwise we may not be able to deal with him at all."

Maddie's words were well spoken, and caused a few murmurs amongst the crowd. Nobody, it seemed, had been aware Phantom was that powerful, even the ghost himself letting out a low whistle. Was he really that strong? It didn't _feel _like it. Perhaps there were parts of his powers that he still didn't have access to. Valerie briefly glanced back at him, as if silently questioning him if he knew this, and Phantom merely shook his head. Looking rather impressed herself, Valerie turned back around, suddenly feeling glad that she wasn't fighting with Phantom anymore.

It was funny, if it had been a year ago, Valerie would be amongst those agreeing with Mrs. Fenton. But now? It was hard for her to see Phantom turning evil, even if she already knew full well that he had that potential inside of him. There were two many things that were rooting Phantom down, she thought- there was Tucker, and there was her, and she couldn't imagine that Sam would be all that happy if her old friend turned evil. There was also Danny's own family, and Valerie knew that he cared about them still, from the look he had in his eyes whenever they were brought up. Even though she couldn't see his eyes at the moment, she had a feeling that right now, they held that same look, unhappy to hear his own mother talking about him this way, even if she had no idea.

And Phantom did have that potential in him. Valerie knew it, Tucker knew it, and nobody knew it better than Phantom himself. It had happened right after Valerie had declared a truce with him, and she and Tucker, alongside Phantom, were the only people who now knew the truth behind what had really happened.

The other two people were dead.

But, Valerie also knew that Phantom did everything possible to contain it. To control it, to reign it in. It was a side to him, but it was a side that he could fully control under most circumstances. And that was also why Valerie was around, what her other role was, aside from helping Phantom hunt ghosts. She was the safety measure, the one who wound ensure that something like that would never happen again.

But that had only happened once. After all, what were the chances of two serial killers coming to Amity Park, who decided to target someone that Phantom knew? Pretty slim, Valerie thought.

The town hall meeting continued on then, as Maddie began to describe the upcoming changes to the ghost unit. She explained that they would be installing portable ghost shields on the most important buildings, such as city hall, the schools, and Axion Labs. It was all pretty standard fare. The town meeting wound down after awhile, and people slowly began to filter off, discussing the day's events with each other. Valerie felt a cold hand on her shoulder then, and she turned back to face Phantom, his green eyes just barely showing from underneath his hoodie.

"It looks like mom is making a beeline for Tucker. Go and back him up, would you, Val?" Phantom asked her. "I'm going to head on. I... don't want to get too close to them. I'm sure you can understand that much." He said, frowning.

"No, yeah, I got it." Valerie told him. "You take care, Phantom." She said, keeping her voice low so that nobody else would hear her.

Phantom grinned, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze, before he turned and headed off. He didn't get very far, however, until someone bumped in to him, someone that made him freeze and turn his head to meet her eyes. His green eyes went wide as he met with Sam's own violet ones, a shock running through his body at the sudden, unexpected close contact. It took every bit of will he had to resist simply grabbing her and pulling her close to him.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sam apologized, sounding a bit sheepish. She wasn't normally this clumsy. She had been in such a hurry to go and speak with the Fentons, that she hadn't even noticed someone was in here path. Then again, she had a lot on her mind these days. She blinked then, eyes narrowing as she got a bitter glimpse at the face underneath the hood, looking startled as she recognized who it was. Green eyes were nothing uncommon in Amity Park, but ones that _glowed?_

There was only one person.

"P-Phantom?" Sam stammered, keeping her voice low.

"Sorry, wrong person." Phantom said quickly, pulling himself away from her and stepping back. Forcing himself to turn around, to wrench his gaze from hers, he started to blend into the crowd again, before he heard something that would have made his blood run cold, had he any still.

"...Danny?"

Phantom froze, though it was only for a moment. He quickly moved on then, disappearing into the dispersing crowd. That moment was all the confirmation Sam needed, as she stared, wide eyed in shock in the direction that Phantom- no, _Danny,_ had gone off in. If Phantom weren't Danny, then there would have been no reason for him to react to that name, no reason at all.

And yet he had.

It could only mean one thing, and Sam wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to make of it.

Danny was Phantom. Phantom was- or had been, Danny. And he _knew _it, too.

And somehow, Sam got the impression that he didn't want her to know this. Was it shame? Did he feel some kind of shame at having become a ghost? But then again, she had told Tucker- and she had a hunch that Valerie knew as well, and Valerie hadn't even been friends with him when he had died! Suddenly, Sam felt annoyed, betrayed by two of her best friends in the world. They had been keeping a secret behind her back, a big secret, and she just couldn't understand the reason _why_.

Did they think she wouldn't understand? That they couldn't trust her? Of course she would have! Sam wouldn't have told a soul about this. Danny was her friend, after all, and just because he had become a ghost, didn't change that. She grimaced a little then, however, recalling her own opinions on Phantom, ones she had before she had figured out the truth, ones that were quickly changing. Maybe she could somewhat understand why Tucker and Danny couldn't tell her. She had been gone from Amity Park for a year, and a lot of things had changed during that time.

Nothing had changed more than Danny, it seemed.

It was something in the ease of the way he responded to 'Phantom', the way his personality had sort of... shifted. Now that she looked for it, she could still see bits and pieces of the old Danny. There was the way he rubbed his neck when he was nervous, he was a _terrible_ lair, had a hero complex, and apparently, enjoyed gazing up at the stars. For a brief moment, Sam found herself wondering exactly how Danny dealt with it, with knowing that his dream of being an astronaut could now never be filled. That thought lead to another, wondering how he had adjusted to his own death, what it felt like to die, what it was like to wake up as a ghost, a whole domino chain was falling down in her mind, each question bringing up a new question.

"Sam?" A somewhat familiar voice broke Sam out of her thoughts, and she blinked, looking over towards the older girl. "Are you okay? You were just sort of standing there, zoning out."

"Jazz!" Sam said with surprise. "I was just looking for you, actually. I um," she paused, frowning, considering her words. "...Can I talk to you?"

* * *

"Tucker!" Maddie called out to the techno geek, her voice causing him to cringe. He had a feeling that this was coming, but it didn't mean that he was looking forward to it. In fact, he was dreading this conversation, having a feeling that Maddie wouldn't listen to a thing he had to say about Phantom. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Phantom and Valerie, taking note of the fact that Phantom was leaving, and Valerie was now heading his way. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, feeling better knowing that Valerie would be by his side.

"Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker did his best to sound surprised. "Jazz called me and told me you were coming back to Amity Park- I never guessed that it would be at the head of an Anti-Phantom task force." He noted. "You know, Phantom's not nearly as bad as you're trying to make him out to be, no offense Mrs. Fenton, but you're on completely the wrong page in regards to him."

"I thought you would say something like that, Tucker." Maddie said, her expression grim. "Look, Tucker, I know that Danny's death probably affected you deeply, it affected all of us. But that doesn't mean that you should be so desperate for friends that you would become friends with a _ghost_, of all things." She put a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good kid, Tucker, I'm sure you could find normal, human friends."

Tucker had to bite back a remark that the reason he was friends with Phantom was because he _was _Danny. But seeing as it wouldn't do for Maddie to know that, he gently removed her hand from his shoulder. "Look, Mrs. Fenton. I can appreciate that you're concerned about me, but I know what I'm doing. I'm not an idiot." He told her, quirking an eyebrow.

"What?" Maddie blinked, pale faced. "No, Tucker I wasn't even implying-"

"That Tucker has no right to choose who he makes friends with?" Valerie spoke up, now within hearing range. She stood in front Maddie, giving her a quick look over. She found herself suddenly struck with the urge to spar with her, there was something about her that made Valerie think that she would make a good partner. Pushing that aside, she stuck out a hand. "Valerie Gray. I don't believe we've met."

"Oh yes, Phantom's other friend." Maddie said, taking the hand and giving it a shake. "Hello, I'm Maddie Fenton. Tucker... was a friend of my son." She said, almost hesitating to use the past tense.

"So I've heard. I'm sorry about your loss." Valerie told her. "However, that said, I don't think you have any right to tell us who we can and can't be friends with. We both made a choice to stick with Phantom through thick and thin, and we aren't exactly about to let you dissuade us of that."

"But surely you can understand how dangerous it is to be close to such a powerful ghost." Maddie told her. "I'm told you didn't even like Phantom until recently. From what I understand, you actually seemed to hate him."

"Its true, I don't deny it." Valerie shrugged her shoulders. "But I learned some things, wised up, and changed my mind. Maybe you should too, Mrs. Fenton." Turning over towards Tucker, she took his hand. "Come on Tucker, let's go. We've got better things to be doing."

"Right. Sorry about this Mrs. Fenton, see you later maybe? Say hi to Jazz for me!" Tucker waved at her, letting Valerie all but drag him off.

Maddie protested of course, but she had no right to hold them, so she merely sighed, watching them go. She couldn't help but smile a little, something about the way they interacted reminded her of Danny and Sam. Vaguely, Maddie wondered if Valerie and Tucker were dating.

Speaking of which, Maddie found it odd that almost everyone in Tucker's grade at Casper High had been listed as having associated with Phantom, _except _Sam Manson. When she saw Tucker's name, Maddie had scoured the list for Sam's, but it was nowhere to be found. It gave her pause, and made her wonder if Tucker and Sam's friendship had fallen apart since Danny wasn't around anymore. She wondered how Sam was holding up- she had been a wreck at the funeral. Maddie had never seen her so emotional.

If anyone had any doubts that she had loved Danny, they were gone now.

Forcing such depressing thoughts aside, Maddie went to join her husband. They had much work to be done tonight, and that meant they would finally have to deal with the lab. They had avoided unlocking it so far, and weren't quite prepared still for what they would have to face when they went into it.

But they couldn't exactly do their job without access to their basement lab, and so, they needed to resolve themselves to open it up again, for the first time in three years.


	6. Not Everything Is As It Seems

Author's Note: And here's Chapter Six! Also, celebrating fifty reviews! Thank you, you guys are the absolute best! Thank you for supporting me even though I am kind of a flake. Things are getting moving, balls are getting rolling, and I still talk way too much. See y'all next update!

Danny Phantom does not belong to me, although Erich Hansaw does, whose first name I will be using from now on. Because um, I actually had to dig through a stupid amount of notes to remember what it was in the first place, oops.

* * *

Graveyard Shift REDUX

Chapter Six: Not Everything Is As It Seems

In the end, Sam had ended up telling Jazz nothing.

Instead, she had talked with the girl about her parent's accident, and asked for her advice. Jazz was deeply sympathetic, and told her to just take things one day at a time, and hope for the best.

After all, Sam had no solid proof that Phantom was Danny, though she knew it in her bones that it was true. She thought that Jazz would think her crazy if she just told her out of the blue that in the time since his death, her younger brother had become one of the most infamous ghosts in all of Amity Park. That, and Sam got the impression that likely Danny didn't want his family to know about this. Surely his parents wouldn't think Phantom was such a threat if they knew he was their own son, right?

Then again, they were ghost hunters. The thought that they might still hunt their own son, even with that knowledge, did cross her mind. But Danny couldn't have been evil, could he have? It was true that Phantom had done some rather dastardly things in the past, but that didn't make him evil, did it?

To be honest, Sam didn't know quite what to think. Her impression of Phantom had always been kind of a cold one. She thought of him as neither a hero or a villain, perhaps some kind of strange anti-hero at best. In fact, before she knew that he was Danny, she didn't really think much of him at all. It was strange, now that she thought about it. Danny had changed since becoming Phantom, Sam realized this, but until she compared what she thought of Phantom before and after the fact, she didn't really realize by just how much.

Perhaps that was to be expected though. Sam had to admit that she didn't know very much about ghosts- that was the area of expertise of Danny's parents. Contrary to popular belief, goths did not have some kind of inherent knowledge of the supernatural. Thinking of that put an idea into her mind, and so after she said goodbye to Jazz, she decided to go seek out Mrs. Fenton. Perhaps she could tell her some things about ghosts, provided she asked the right questions. She didn't want to give away her suspicions to Mrs. Fenton or her husband, but she felt like right now, she needed some more information.

Sam wondered if it was true though, that Phantom really _could _be dangerous. Sam couldn't see it herself, not now that she knew he had been Danny. For all the changes that she saw, there was still Danny there, and now that she looked for it, she had no idea how she had ever missed it in the first place. Danny would have never hurt anyone, never tried to cause anyone pain. He was a good kid, better than most, in fact. Although he didn't always have the strength to do anything, he always did try and help people out, which was why, in spite of his initial misgivings, he had probably decided to go look in the Fenton Ghost Portal himself that evening.

Sam really wished she hadn't put that idea in his head. If she could take it back, reverse time, she would have, but she was only human. Such a thing wasn't possible.

At least, Sam didn't want to think that Danny could be dangerous. He was her friend, in the end, even if he hadn't let her know anything. She wondered if Danny still thought that way, still thought of her as a friend. Perhaps he had felt she had betrayed him when she ran away to boarding school for a year. How much had Danny changed since becoming a ghost? In her three brief encounters with him, she couldn't really say.

She had the feeling that there was a reason that he wasn't talking to her anymore, something deeper. She was going to ask Tucker about it the first chance she got tomorrow, that was for sure. Sam didn't like people, especially her friends, keeping secrets from her. Didn't they know she would be delighted to hear that Danny was still around, even if he was a ghost? Surely they hadn't thought she would reject him.

She could _never _reject Danny.

"Mrs. Fenton!" Sam spotted her talking to her husband, most of the crowd long since having left. She waved a hand, and caught the woman's attention, who smiled brightly when she saw Sam, recognizing her. Up close, Sam noticed some things she hadn't from the distance created by the crowd. There were lines underneath her eyes that hadn't been there before, wrinkles which didn't appear to be because of age. Jack had them too, and she wondered how they had been holding up since the accident.

She wondered if they blamed her.

Judging by the looks on their faces, Sam didn't think so. But they also might not know that she had been the one who had planted the idea in Danny's head that had lead to his death.

Sam felt guilty about it, though. She knew it wasn't really her fault- she hadn't told Danny to go inside the portal on his own. She hadn't expected it to kill him, there was no way she could have known. And yet, that didn't change her guilt, a deep, irrational feeling that had stayed with her for the past three years.

She wondered if she would ever get past it.

She wondered if the reason Danny wasn't talking to her was because he blamed her for his death. She couldn't imagine him doing so- but then, time can change many things. Perhaps he had thought her leaving was her simply running away from her guilt.

Maybe she could understand, a little bit, why Danny had been avoiding her.

"Oh, Sam!" Maddie couldn't help but smile at her. "I haven't seen you in ages." She said, noting with relief that the girl appeared to be in good health. She had been worried about Sam the most, to be honest, seeing the wreck she had been at her son's funeral. Maddie couldn't blame her though, she knew that Sam had been in love with Danny, and she knew likewise that Danny had been in love with Sam, even if he had never realized that himself.

It was a shame, to be honest, and Maddie had always hoped that Sam would be able to pick herself up, and find herself someone new one day. She was still only fourteen at the time of the accident, at least, it gave her plenty of time to find someone else she could feel that way about.

"Yeah, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" Sam gave her a sad smile, not voicing the fact that the last time they had seen each other had been at Danny's funeral. Sam hadn't gone out in public for a little while after that, not even to school, which had probably fueled her parent's decision to send her off to boarding school for a year.

It had helped, strangely enough.

"Um, look, Mrs. Fenton, I know this might sound like a strange question, but can I talk to you about ghosts?" She asked her.

"About ghosts?" Maddie blinked, then smiled a little, an understanding look coming across her face. "Are you worried about Tucker hanging around Phantom?" She asked her. "I must say, I was a little bit surprised when I saw Tucker's name on that list, and not yours. You two haven't had a falling out or something, have you?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, well I guess that's part of it." Sam said quickly. "I also work at the graveyard during the evenings, you know, cleaning things up, making sure nobody pulls any pranks, so I thought some tips about ghosts might come in handy! And no, Tucker and I haven't had a falling out or anything, though we don't exactly talk as much anymore, I'll admit." She said, then frowned. "Wait- what list?"

"Oh, just a list that Mayor Masters complied about people who are in frequent contact with Phantom. Tucker was at the top of the list." She said with a frown. "I don't know what's gotten into that boy, I thought he was more sensible than that. I'm glad you at least have a bit of sense, Sam." She heaved a sigh. "I guess Tucker's just trying to look for someone to hang out with after Danny's death, a guy friend, you know... but he should probably be looking in places other than those with ghosts."

"Oh well, yeah, I guess." Sam said, rubbing the back of her head. There was no way that she could tell Maddie that the reason Tucker hung around Phantom wasn't because he was looking for someone to replace Danny- but because Phantom _was _Danny.

"What's that?" Jack chimed in, getting himself involved in their conversation. "You say you want to know about ghosts, Sam?" He asked, sounding delighted. "Wonderful! Jazz never lets me babble on to her about ghosts!" He said, clapping his hands, excited as a little schoolgirl. "We can break out the Fenton Fudge and discuss ghosts over it!" He declared.

"Maybe we'll break out the Fenton Fudge." Maddie said lightly, glancing over at her husband. "And we shouldn't just babble. Sam here sounds like she has some questions in mind she would like to ask us. Would you like to ride with us back to Fenton Works, sweetie? And don't worry," she said, laughing lightly. "I'll be the one driving."

"Oh good." Sam heaved a sigh of relief. Danny's father drove like he wasn't aware there was anyone else on the road. "I'd like that, Mrs. Fenton. And I'm not entirely opposed to Fenton Fudge. I've had a rough couple of days, I could probably use some." She admitted. "I don't know if you guys know this yet, but my parents are in the hospital right now."

"Pamela and Jeremy are in the hospital?" Maddie asked, a bit shocked, a look of worry crossing her face. "Why? What's wrong? Do you have a place to stay sweetie, because if you're home alone, you can _always _come stay with us."

"Oh no, I'm fine, but I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Fenton." Sam lifted up her hands. "I'm staying with Mr. Hansaw. He's my employer." She told them. "As for my parents, there was a hit and run, but they've already caught the people behind it. They turned themselves in, apparently." She told them. "Dad's fine, I spoke with him earlier. Mom... Mom's still unconscious, so we don't really know what's going to happen to her. To be honest, I'm trying not to think about it too hard."

"Oh honey, I am _so sorry_." Maddie said, putting her hands on Sam's shoulder. She couldn't imagine what it must be like, to have your own mother hovering on the brink, just a few short years after the death of your best friend. She must be out of her mind with worry, even if she was trying not to show it. "You know that if you ever need anything, you can always come to us. You were one of Danny's best friends, and just because he's gone now, doesn't mean that we won't take good care of you if something should ever happen."

"Thanks, Mrs. Fenton. That means a lot, actually." Sam smiled up at her. "But for now, I'd really just like to talk with the two of you about ghosts, I mean- if that's not a problem. You seem like you two are pretty busy, after all."

"Not too busy to answer questions from our son's good friend." Jack said gravely. "We'll always have time for that, Sam. Come on and get in the Fenton RV."

"Is Jazz not coming back with you two?" Sam asked, glancing in the direction she had left Jazz in.

"No, I think she was going to go visit Danny's grave after the town hall meeting." Maddie told her. "She was going to buy some flowers to put there. Jack and I were going to go later this evening."

"Well, I keep it pretty clean." Sam told them. It struck her as odd now, visiting a grave for someone who was very much still around. She wondered again, what Danny thought about the fact that underneath that mound of dirt, was what was left of his human remains, and she shuddered a little at the thought, something which caught Maddie's attention.

"Are you cold, Sam?" She asked her, sounding a bit worried. Sudden drop in temperature could mean ghosts, but she didn't notice any other signs of paranormal disturbance in the area.

"Oh, no, sorry, I'm fine Mrs. Fenton." Sam said quickly, stepping into the Fenton RV. It had been a long time since she'd rode in this thing, she thought, strapping herself in. "Don't worry about it."

"Well alright." Maddie said, taking the driver's seat, as her husband glumly took the front passenger seat. She started up the RV, and it came to life with a hum. "Let's get back to Fenton Works, and then we can chat all we like about ghosts."

* * *

Jazz Fenton stood outside the Amity Park Cemetery for the first time in three years. The last time she had been here was the night before they had moved away from Amity Park, so standing in front of it's gates after all this time made her somewhat nervous, enough so that she could hear her own heart pounding in her chest. In one hand, she clutched a bouquet of various colored carnations, that she had picked up at a flower shop along the way. Taking in and letting out a deep breath, she steeled herself to enter, and pushed the great iron gates open.

"Oh, welcome." She took note of the man in his mid-thirties who greeted her, as he looked up from one of the great monuments, which he was in the process of cleaning. He adjusted his glasses, tossing the cleaning rag back into the bucket, and attempted to dry his hands on his pants, without much success. "A visitor, huh?" He said, glancing at the flowers in her hands. "Can I help you, or can you find your way on your own?" He asked.

Jazz hesitated, glancing at the graveyard. "I might." She said, turning back towards the man. "It's been awhile since I've been here." She admitted, extending her free hand. "Jazz Fenton. I'm looking for the grave of Danny Fenton, my little brother."

"Ah, the Fenton kid." Mr. Hansaw nodded his head, and took her hand, shaking it. "You're in luck. Someone who works here tends to that grave pretty regularly, so I know where it is my heart. Erich Hansaw, by the way. I'm the grave keeper here." He told her.

"Oh, Sam mentioned you." Jazz said. "I'm guessing she's the one looking after Danny's grave. That's nice of her, I should thank her later."

"Did she now?" The older man brightened upon hearing this, grinning broadly. "Well, isn't that a nice thing to hear! I hope they're all good things she's saying about me though."

"She says you live on a higher level than the rest of us." Jazz said, raising her brows.

"Yeah, that sounds like Sam alright." Erich nodded his head. "Well, right, your brother's grave is it? I'm sorry for your loss, by the way, I heard about the accident. Tragic."

"It was." Jazz said. "I still haven't entirely gotten over it. I mean... you don't get over people dying but..."

"No, I know what you mean." Erich said, shaking his head, heading through the labyrinth of graves. "It's down there, right by the old oak tree. I'll leave you alone for the moment, if you like."

"Thank you, that would be nice." Jazz gave him a small smile, and watched as the man nodded and wandered away, leaving her to her thoughts. Jazz turned down in the direction he had pointed her in, and easily found her little brother's grave. She smiled sadly at it, noticing that it had been well taken care of indeed, washed clean of any dirt and grime, not a single weed in sight. She would have to thank Sam later.

"Hey little brother." Jazz said, kneeling down in front of the grave, her eyes downcast and voice low. "Sorry it's been awhile. We moved away for a bit, did you know that?" She asked the grave, feeling silly all the while. Yet it seemed to help. She placed the flowers in front of the grave, that sad smile lingering on her lips. "Here's something for you, even if they are kind of girly." She gave a small chuckle.

"I miss you, you know. We all do." Jazz said, frowning. "It's been awful not having you around. Sometimes I still catch myself turning around to ask you something, only I already know that you're not there anymore, and..." She paused, sniffing, and moved to wipe away some of her tears, which had started to fall at a steady rate now. For all that she was supposed to be the strong one in the family, the resilient one, here she was, bawling like a baby.

"It's not _fair!" _She shouted, feeling more like a little girl than a grown woman. "What did you do so wrong that caused you to have to be ripped from life at such an early age? You were only fourteen, you hadn't even- you hadn't even gone through puberty yet." She said, sniffling again. "You were a good kid, you never hurt anyone and you tried to make the people around you happy! So why did this sort of thing have to happen!?" Jazz yelled at the grave, as if it held all the answers to questions that had none.

After a few minutes, Jazz managed to collect herself, brushing away the last of the tears with the edge of her sleeve. "It's really not the same without you around, Danny. Did you know dad's lost some weight since you died?" She asked, unable to help but laugh a little. "He's still sort of a solid brick wall, of course, that's dad for you, but he has. They almost gave up on ghost hunting for you, but it turned out that the world needs them now more than ever."

She shook her head. "If your death was what it took for me to not be embarrassed constantly by our parent's occupation, then I would have rather they not have built that stupid Ghost Portal at all. I _wish_-" She began, but she was cut off.

"You're new here, so I don't figure anyone has told you yet but you really shouldn't make wishes in Amity Park."

Jazz let out a quick gasp, something so familiar about that voice, and she jolted up in shock, looking towards where it had come from. Her shoulders slumped, however, as she found that it wasn't Danny, but rather, sitting perched in the old oak tree was Phantom.

She had barely caught a glimpse of him at Fenton Works the other day, but of course she knew what he looked like. Everybody did, there were pictures of him everywhere. Snow white hair in a ponytail, glowing green eyes, black goggles, gray camo pants and a black tank top, arms wrapped in bandages, he matched the pictures she had seen exactly. He was wearing a black hoodie over his tank top today, but it's hood was hanging down, letting Jazz see the ghost boy's face.

It struck her in a strange way, and she felt almost as if she knew it- but not quite, there was something about it that she couldn't place that was off, wrong. Then again, since she couldn't figure out who it was his face reminded her of in the first place, it wasn't like she could put her finger on exactly what was wrong.

"How long were you watching me?" Jazz asked, a hard edge to her voice, glaring at the ghost. "And what are you doing here?"

"Is it that weird for a ghost to be in a graveyard?" Phantom asked her, quirking an eyebrow. "Look, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your little emotional breakdown there, it just sort of happened. I was just trying to relax, and then all of a sudden, you came around and just started bawling and screaming- look I won't tell anyone about it if that's what you're worried about." He said, holding up his hands. "People get emotional in graveyards, that's natural. I don't think anyone would make fun of you for it."

"Don't you have any idea who I am, ghost?" Jazz asked, her stare cold.

"I do." Phantom shrugged his shoulders. "Jasmine Fenton, daughter of the Fenton couple, professional ghost hunters. And besides, I wasn't eavesdropping you, I was just hiding from Paulina." Almost as if on cue, the queen bee's voice could be heard from outside the graveyard's walls, calling out for the 'ghost boy'.

"And heads of the task force dedicated to wiping you out." Jazz added.

"So I've noticed." Phantom said coolly, returning her gaze with a certain amount of disinterest. In truth, it sort of hurt to hear his loving and caring sister speaking to him like this, not that she had any idea who he was. Well, it was better that way in the end, he thought. She didn't seem to recognize him at all, even up close, much as he thought she wouldn't.

Sam... Sam was different, he guessed. He honestly wasn't sure how she'd managed to figure it out. She was always a smart one, and they had always been close.

"You don't seem to care that much that you have two professional ghost hunters on your tail." Jazz said, crossing her arms in front of her. "Aren't you worried at all?"

"Not really." Phantom said, shaking his head. "I've had ghost hunters after me before." He told her. "What makes your parents so different from all the rest? Especially given what I've heard of d-I mean, Jack Fenton's reputation."

Jazz quirked an eyebrow. Had Phantom been about to call her father something else? "Well, okay, maybe my dad is the most competent ghost hunter around, but my mother more than makes up for it." She told him. "Your goose is cooked, Phantom."

"You're awfully harsh on someone you just met." Phantom observed, arching an eyebrow, leaning his chin against his hand. "Are you always this way towards new people, Jazz?"

"_Jasmine."_Jazz corrected coldly. "Jazz is something only my friends can call me. And how do you know that nickname anyways?" She asked him, looking a bit suspicious.

"Tucker Foley is my best friend, of course I know it." Phantom rolled his eyes. "Who do you think warned me you guys were coming?" He asked her, and Jazz winced. She had called Tucker before they had moved back, hadn't she? She had been unwitting then that he was in cahoots with Phantom, however, and she wouldn't have done it if she had known.

"You're a ghost." Jazz said. "Ghosts are evil, and you may play hero, but I get the feeling that you're up to something. And you should stay away from Tucker- he was my _brother's _best friend, not yours."

"Touchy subject matter, I see." Phantom said, floating down from the oak tree, landing in front of Jazz. "Look, I've heard about your little brother's accident, and I'm sorry about it. I'm not trying to steal away his best friend, we just sort of ended up hanging out together. And I'm not evil, that's just o-your mother talking." He said, frowning at her. "Here I am, trying to give you a friendly tip on how to avoid ghosts, and I get this back. Some thanks."

"And what, exactly, does wishing have to do with ghosts?" Jazz asked.

"Desiree. She's a wishing ghosts. Grants wishes, although they're usually horribly twisted. Like that time she granted a wish for evil plants." Phantom recalled.

"Why would someone wish for evil plants?" Jazz asked, which got her a shrug in return. "No matter- why even bother. I'm the daughter of ghost hunters. Wouldn't it be good if I got mixed up with some ghost and distracted my parents from you?"

"Of course not!" Phantom said, suddenly sounding offended. "Why would that ever be okay? Look, I know you and your folks won't ever believe this, but I'm just trying to do what I can to make Amity Park a safer place. All of those other incidents have different explanations behind them, and they weren't really my fault." He told her.

Jazz frowned, studying the ghost boy carefully. Were it not for his ghostly aura and the glow of his eyes, one could almost mistake him for a normal teenager, albeit one with a well done bleach job. "I don't get it though- why bother?" She asked, suddenly feeling a familiar spark strike within her, one that was brought on by her deep love for psychology. "You're a ghost, right? Why don't you just wreck havoc like all of the other ghosts. Mom says you think more like a human than a ghost, which she doesn't understand."

"Really?" Phantom blinked, not seeming to be aware of that himself. "Huh. That explains a lot I guess. As for that, I don't really have an answer. As you might guess, the only time I really hang out with ghosts is when I'm beating them up. Unless, they're like say, Dora or Frostbite, but they're different."

"For a ghost, you don't seem to know a whole lot about ghosts." Jazz observed.

"Hey, becoming a ghost doesn't come with an instruction manual." Phantom protested. "You have to figure it out all on your own."

"Sorry." Jazz apologized quickly, sensing that she was treading on some touchy subject. Either Phantom was a good actor, or her parents were a bit off in their assessment of him- she found herself feeling strangely comfortable around this boy, once she dropped her guard. "I guess that's true. Being a ghost means you had to die, right? How did happen?" She asked, her voice hesitant. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

"It was an accident." Phantom said quickly. That much wouldn't give it away- people died because of accidents every day. "Same as your little brother. Well, not the same, I wasn't electrocuted because of some whatever thing." He said.

"Ghost Portal." Jazz supplied. "And he didn't die from electrocution." She told him, and watched in bafflement as Phantom suddenly paled. Although he quickly covered it up, there had been a look of shock there. "Did Tucker tell you that? A lot of the information going out was jumbled because of the suddenness of Danny's death, but the real cause of death was the broken neck he got after being thrown out of the portal."

Phantom reeled from this information. The last thing he could remember before waking up as a ghost was the painful jolt of electricity that had run through him- but that _wasn't_ what had killed him? He covered up his shock with a neutral expression however, and gave her a curt nod. "Ah, I see." He said after a moment. "Well, I hope it was quick, at least. I barely remember what happened to me." He lied.

So he might not remember the whole thing, that was true, but he sure did remember what it felt like to be electrocuted.

How the hell had he even _survived _that?

"That's what the doctors said." Jazz said shortly. "There's that at least, I suppose." She frowned a little. "Look, I think I might have jumped to some conclusions about you Phantom. You seem to be pretty okay." She said after a moment. "And usually I try not to do that."

"It's okay." Phantom shrugged. "You have your parents, right? It's hard not to believe stuff you hear all the time." He had sure believed it the first few months of being a ghost, waiting to turn evil any second. It wasn't until Freakshow had come along that he understood that this wasn't the case, having first hand experienced what evil inside of him was like.

There were dark forces that lurked within him, he knew that much. But it wasn't evil. Anger, rage, maybe, that eclipsed everything else that he was, all consuming. But that was just an extension of his own temper, and not really a sign of evil, at least not as he figured it. Of course, he could just be telling himself that to prevent him from freaking out.

"Yeah, I guess." Jazz said after a moment. "Look, I should head back home. We've still got a lot of unpacking to do, after all."

"Good luck with all that." Phantom said, grinning at her a little. It was a little nice, talking to Jazz after all of this time. He didn't think it would be as easy to change his parents opinions about him as it was with Jazz, just talking with them wouldn't work because they would never let that happen. "Remember, no wishing in Amity Park allowed."

"I'll keep that in mind, Phantom." Jazz said, then paused, mulling something over. "Have you ever seen my little brother?" She asked him. "You know, out there in Ghost Land or whatever."

"It's the Ghost Zone." Phantom told her. "And no, I haven't. Then again, I've never been in the Ghost Zone myself, so..." He trailed off.

"Oh." Jazz blinked. "I was under the impression that all ghosts resided in the Ghost Zone."

"Not me!" Phantom laughed. "Amity Park is where I make my home." He told her. "But I'm sorry, I don't think I've seen your brother. It might have been so sudden that he didn't leave a ghost behind." He offered, tasting the lie in his mouth. Well, it was better to let her believe that than to know the truth, right?

"I see." Jazz frowned, looking downcast. "Well, my parents would be relieved to hear that, at least." She said. "I've got to run for real now. Maybe I'll see you later?" She asked, hesitating for a moment.

"Maybe." Phantom waved, watching his older sister head back out. She didn't see the grave keeper on her way out, and wasn't able to thank him for his guidance, but left with an oddly lighter heart than she had entered with.

* * *

"Sorry for the mess, Sam, we haven't had much of a chance to really unpack and clean things up." Maddie apologized as they entered Fenton Works. Sam was struck by how much it looked like she had last seen it, only covered in a fine layer of dust, and crammed full with boxes in varying states of being unpacked.

"That's okay, Mrs. Fenton." Sam said, following behind the woman.

"Do you mind accompanying us down to the lab, Sam?" Jack asked. "We've been needing to get it opened up, and we've been putting it off long enough. But-" the man paused, showing some tact for once. "If you don't want to, I can understand that much."

Sam knew what they meant. That thing was down there, that thing that had caused Danny's accident. That thing that was the very symbol of the sin she felt she bore.

Which was exactly why she needed to actually know what it looked like.

"I'll be fine, Mr. Fenton." Sam said after a moment, putting on her best smile. "It's probably just as hard for the two of you to go back down there again. You could use some support."

Maddie gave her a curt nod, before she turned to her husband. "You heard the girl, Jack. Crack it open." She said.

"Will do, Maddie. Just let me find that blasted key first." He told her, and began to scavenge through the boxes. After a few minutes, he emerged, triumphant, with a key ring that contained two keys. If one was for the lab, then Sam could make a good guess as to what the second one was for- the lock on Danny's room.

The padlock on the door to the basement lab fell down with a loud clatter, and Jack pulled the chains that sealed the door away from it, tossing them aside. Giving the door a good push, it had rusted a bit, he finally cracked the lab door open. The smell of stale air greeted them, causing them to gag a bit, covering their mouths. The door, after all, hadn't been opened in three years, and with no air circulating through the house, it was to be expected.

Once they had let some clean air filter into the room, the three of them headed down the stairs. They weren't quite prepared for what greeted them, however. Maddie and Jack had expected the lab to be in much the same condition of the house, a dusty mess. What they got, however, was a messy room to be sure- but there was hardly any dust at all. And what was more, it looked as if things had been riffled through and moved.

"What on earth?" Maddie wondered aloud. "Jack, it looks like someone else has been here." She said.

"But who, Maddie? The door was locked all this time." Jack said with a frown.

"Hey, this looks like the thermos that Phantom and Tucker carry around with them." Sam noted, picking up one of the spare Fenton Thermoses.

"What?" Maddie gasped, rather shocked at this information. "Phantom has a Fenton Thermos?" She asked Sam. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. He and Tucker both have one." Sam said, blinking a little. "This is Fenton tech?" She asked. "I always sort of assumed it was something that Tucker had made."

"No, it's the Fenton Thermos, designed to catch ghosts. We made it before we made the Ghost Portal for that reason." She told her, then glanced over at her husband. "Jack, do you know what this means?"

"That the ghost kid has good taste in ghost hunting equipment?" Jack said.

"Well yes, there's that." Maddie said. "But more importantly Jack, that Phantom has been looting and using our lab while we've been away! Look, some of the ecto guns are missing as well!" She told him. "And according to the logs from the Ghost Portal, there's been constant deposits of ghosts into the ghost zone."

Bringing up the Ghost Portal, of course, drew their attention towards it. The swirling mass of ectoplasmic energy whose activation that had resulted in the death of their only son, and Sam's best friend. It glowed, still working, they had, after all, forgotten to turn it off in their hurry to leave. In truth, neither of them had wanted to deal with it again after what had happened.

"And it's been properly maintained too." Jack was the first one who broke out of his trance. "Look, the Ecto Filtrater has been changed on time. Phantom's better at doing chores than Danny was."

"How did Phantom even know about the Ecto Filtrater?" Maddie asked, furrowing her brows.

"I guess he read it in your notes?" Sam suggested, covering for Phantom without even thinking.

"Yes, I guess that could be possible." Maddie nodded. "I don't like the fact that he's been using the lab, Jack. How much does he know about us and your tech if he knows how to keep up the Fenton Ghost Portal?" She asked him.

"Um, you guys?" Sam cleared her throat. "Look, I hate to interrupt, but my questions about ghosts? I mean if this is a bad time, I can come back later..."

"Oh no, we're sorry Sam." Maddie said, shaking her head. "Please, ask away. Jack and I will figure all this out later."

"Um, right, okay." Sam nodded her head. "I wanted to ask about Phantom, actually, because um, that list is sort of out of date." She confessed to them. "Oh, it's not like I'm interacting with him or anything, we just met three times... in the past few days." She said. "And only just briefly. He acted kind of weird around me."

"Weird how?" Maddie asked, eyes narrowing.

"Well, like, the second time when I was trying to go back inside and leave, he just sort of grabbed at my wrist." She told her. "He looked just as surprised about it as I did, to be honest."

"That is a bit odd." Maddie admitted. "What's your impression of him, Sam?"

As much as Sam wanted to tell them Phantom was a good guy, she wasn't really sure of that herself, even in spite of knowing that he was Danny. "Well," Sam frowned, scratching the back of her head. "Like I said, all three times I met with him were very brief. He's kind of elusive, you know? At least to me, that is." She rolled her eyes, unable to help but keep a note of annoyance out of her voice. "He seemed kind of sympathetic, actually, when he heard about my parents. Concerned. I don't think he was faking it."

"Hm." Maddie mulled over this. "Odd indeed. We've noticed that, according to the people we've talked to, that Phantom appears to have emotions. Ghosts aren't really supposed to have emotions- anger maybe, by sympathy, understanding? Not according to my research."

"Maybe there's something special about Phantom?" Sam offered.

"It's likely, given that he's and S Class ghost." Jack said. "What I wouldn't give to get my hands on him, and thoroughly study that ghost!" He declared, rubbing his hand together. "Imagine all of the things we could find out!"

Sam winced, knowing full well that he was talking about his own son here. She wondered how Danny dealt with it- no, she should be calling him Phantom, shouldn't she? After all, that seemed to be what he went by these days, and she didn't want to accidentally slip up in front of anyone, especially not the Fentons.

"So um, on another note- what would you guys do if Danny became a ghost?" Sam asked, the question out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"We would have to hunt him, just like any other ghost." Maddie said. "I know that sounds harsh, but you need to understand that ghosts are evil, at their core." She told her. "They become corrupted form what they once were, even our sweet son would be." She paused. "You aren't asking because you've seen him, have you?"

"Oh, no!" Sam said quickly, shaking her head. "I just- I just kind of wanted to know. But this confirms what I thought already!" She lied. "Look, I shouldn't take up more of your time, and I've got homework to do." She told them. "So, it's been nice talking to the two of you again, and if I have any more questions, I'll stop by."

"Feel free to any time, sweetie!" Maddie called out after her. Sam gave her a smile, pausing to cast a lingering glance towards the Ghost Portal. Another shudder ran through her spine, and she forced her gaze away from it, heading back up the stairs.

There was no way she could tell the Fentons the truth about Danny.

* * *

It was a bit late in the evening when Sam made her way back to the graveyard house she was currently sharing with Mr. Hansaw. Unlocking the door with the key he had given her, she came in to find it dark. "Mr. Hansaw?" Sam called out, looking around, turning on the lights. "Are you in here?" She called out.

There was a loud clatter from upstairs that got Sam's attention, and fearing that something had happened, she darted up the stairs. She came to his room, and paused, finding it empty. "Mr. Hansaw?" She asked, stepping in, looking a bit hesitant. "Are you in here?" She called out again, only hearing her own voice echo.

"That's strange..." Sam trailed off, heading out of the room and back downstairs. Maybe there was another cat in the attic, she thought. A fat cat, from the sound of it. Hopefully at least, it wasn't another raccoon, she knew the man had problems with animals nesting in the attic.

"Sam?" Erich's voice called out then, as he came downstairs. She blinked, looking confused at seeing him. "Sorry about that, I was in the bathroom." He told her. "How was the town hall meeting?" He asked. "I ended up not going."

"Oh well, it was interesting." Sam said. "The people leading the Phantom task force are the parents of my old friend, Danny." She told him. "It was kind of nice to see them again, to be perfectly honest."

Erich seemed to raise his brows at this, this information appearing to catch his interest. "So, the Fentons, right?" He asked for confirmation, heading over to the fridge, pulling out a carton of milk, taking a straight swig out of it.

"Use a glass, Mr. Hansaw." Sam said lightly, and the man laughed, a bit sheepish as he fetched one from the cabinets. "And that's right. Jack and Maddie Fenton." She told him.

"Hm." The man frowned, pouring himself a glass of milk, placing the carton a bit off to the side. "I see." His thoughts were churning at a mile a minute, but they were hidden underneath a smiling mask. "I guess things are going to get a bit exciting in Amity Park soon." He said. "Well, hopefully not too exciting. Don't want anything like two years ago happening again."

"Can I ask you a question about a hypothetical situation, Mr. Hansaw?" Sam asked after a moment. "I'm ah, writing a book."

"Shoot, kiddo." He said, taking a sip of his milk. "Can't guarantee you I will give you the best advice, though."

"That's fine." Sam said, laughing a little. "I know to take any advice I get from you, Mr. Hansaw, with a grain of salt."

"Gee thanks." Erich arched an eyebrow. "That's encouraging."

Sam laughed. "I didn't mean it that way, don't get so upset!" She told him, and smiled a little, her mood a bit easier now. "Well, say our lead character has this friend." She began. "And this friend's parents are... vampire hunters." She told him, and the man nodded. "And the lead character's friend becomes a vampire. Now, his parents think he's dead, funeral and everything for him, but he is in fact, alive. Well, I mean, he's undead but, you get my point, right?"

"No, I get it." Erich nodded his head, keeping his expression neutral.

"Okay, so the lead character, at some point learns that her friend has become a vampire. But he looks different now, so his own parents don't recognize him." Sam said. "What I'm asking is that if would be the best choice to tell his parents the truth, or keep up the lie?"

"The best choice for the story, right?" Erich asked.

"Oh yeah!" Sam said quickly. "The best choice for the story."

"Well," Erich frowned, leaning back against the counter, setting aside his glass of milk. "Let's see here. So Character A's parents are vampire hunters, and he has become a vampire. I assumed said parents are hunting their son, unwitting that he is their son?" He asked her, and Sam gave a quick nod. "That's a tough call. For story reasons, it would be more interesting to keep it a secret... but telling the truth could make things more interesting, if it doesn't end the story too quickly. After all, if they accepted their son right out, that would be the end of the story, wouldn't it?"

"True." Sam nodded her head.

"On the other hand, if you tell the truth, it might not change anything." Erich told her. "The character's parents would still hunt their son, even with that knowledge, because they just hate vampires so much." He frowned. "And if you don't tell them, nothing will change at all. It's a conundrum, you've put before me, Sammie, and I'm not much of a storyteller. At the end of the day, I think all I can say is just chose what you think is right for the story."

"That's easier said than done." Sam frowned.

"Like I said, my advice is not the best." Erich told her. "Sorry I can't help more, Sammie. You seem really concerned about this story of yours. When did you start writing it?" He asked.

"A few days ago." Sam said quickly. "I thought it might be fun to try my hand at writing." She lied.

"Huh. Well, let me know how it turns out." Erich told her, grabbing his glass and the milk carton. "I'm going to be organizing some files in my room for awhile. You can order something from that vegetarian place you like if you want some dinner."

"Well, okay." Sam blinked. "Don't stay up too late." She told him. "I don't want to find you passed out in the middle of the stairs again."

Erich laughed, shaking his head. "That was a one time thing. You get to bed early yourself." He told her, giving her a mock salute, before he headed back upstairs. Sam could hear him close his bedroom door behind him.

"Hypothetical question indeed." Erich said to himself, taking a sip from the carton. Striding over to the back wall, he set aside the carton and the glass, and reached for several books on his bookshelf, pulling them out in a certain order. There was a small creaking noise then, as the bookshelf slid back to the side, exposing a hidden staircase. Grabbing his glass of milk and the carton, he trudged down the dark stairs, the bookshelf shutting itself behind him.

The stairs lead to a hidden chamber, and he switched the lights on, setting aside his burden once more. After doing so, the bespectacled man collapsed in a wooden chair, running a hand through his hair. "She went from wondering to certain in the course of one afternoon. I wonder what exactly changed." He said aloud, speaking freely. Sound from this room, after all, didn't leak to anywhere else in the house.

"Well, the Fentons being here might get in the way of my assignment." He muttered, pulling out some files, news clips of in regards to the Fentons. There were several on Danny's accident, and there would surely be more to add come tomorrow morning, when the papers had all sorts of things to say about their return. His eyes narrowed, and he pulled out another, more extensive file, labeled 'Masters', and a third, labeled 'Phantom'. Pausing for a moment, he pulled out a fourth still, one labeled 'London', that didn't seem to be about the city.

"What a fine mess we're stumbling into." Erich said, flipping open the Phantom folder. "You ready for it, kid?"

* * *

"Jack!" Maddie called out, peering over her shoulder at her husband. "Have you got the wide range scanner plugged in yet?" She asked him.

"On it Maddie." Jack told her, finding a free space in which to shove the plug in question in. Standing back up, he wiped his brow, turning back to her. "Okay, Maddie, the wide range scanner is online! With this, we'll know the power levels of every ghost in the city at the moment."

"Right." Maddie nodded, switching the device on. It was a large monitor, fixed to the wall, that had the Fenton Ghost Ranker plugged into it. She smiled as it flared to life, doing a wide sweep of the city, and calculating the power levels of the ghosts within. There was an alarm set to go off if there were A Rank or S Class ghosts detected in the vicinity, though they'd already programmed in Phantom's signature, no need to be alerted to something they already knew.

The alarm, however, went off anyways, blaring throughout the house. It was loudest of all in the lab, and it was only years of professionalism that kept Maddie and Jack from reaching for their ears. Killing the alarm for a moment so they could talk, Maddie looked over the results, a grim expression on her face, one her husband shared.

"Maddie, according to this list, there are not one, but _two _S Class ghosts in Amity Park." He reported to her grimly. "And an A Rank ghost as well. I don't know about you, but I don't think that sounds very good."

"No, no it doesn't." Maddie frowned. "Even if we assume one of those S Class ghosts is Phantom, it doesn't exactly comfort me. But why haven't we heard about these other two?" Maddie asked him. "Ghosts that powerful are bound to cause trouble at some point, so it's odd we haven't heard a single word about them."

"There might be something going on here that's more than just Phantom. He might just be the tip of the iceberg." Jack said, looking over the rest of the results. Most of the other ghosts in the city were C Rank or lower, nothing to get worked up about. "I think we need to take these results to Vlad."

"I think you might be right." Maddie said, looking back at the screen. "I think you might be right."


	7. A Man's Ambitions

Author's Note: So, here is a much delayed chapter! I've actually had the first page written out for the past two months so if it reads a bit different from everything else, that would be why. Sorry for the wait guys! I've just gotten kind of swamped by various things. Convention, dad's birthday, unsuccessful job hunting (lots of that!), and I guess now my dad is getting engaged? Also I might have been called away to save the world, who knows.

As always, Danny Phantom isn't mine! Mr. Hansaw is though. I DO LONG BUILD UP but I hope the next chapter should be worth it. And soon you might be praying for the build up again wahahahahahahahahaha~

* * *

Graveyard Shift REDUX

Chapter Seven: A Man's Ambitions

"She knows, Tucker."

Phantom didn't have to go into detail for Tucker to understand who 'she' was and what it was that she knew. All it took was one look at his friend's face, and he understood perfectly. It wasn't often that his friend called him out for anything other than ghost hunting, so when Tucker arrived at the abandoned cafe that served as one of their meeting places, he had a hunch that something had happened.

"Are you sure?" Tucker asked, though he doubted Phantom would be this grim unless he was sure.

"I'm sure." Phantom said, glancing up at him. "She called me Danny. I don't think she would say that to Amity Park's most infamous ghost unless she knew for sure who I was- or had been."

"You didn't respond to that, did you?" Tucker asked him. "We can still save this if you didn't."

"Well, I didn't- not exactly." Phantom frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think I froze up for a second there, but it's not exactly like I turned around or anything." He glanced over at Tucker, a bit of apprehension in his gaze. "Think we can still convince her she's mistaken?"

Tucker heaved a deep sigh, and shook his head. "No, that's more than enough for Sam to put two and two together. Maybe we should just come clean to her. She'll probably be looking for me or Valerie soon enough, so we can explain things to her. Unless that's not something you want?"

"I don't know what I want." Phantom grumbled. "I _want _to be near Sam, but I don't know how much of that is made up of my own feelings, and how much of that is the result of my obsession." He frowned a little. "And I don't really know what Sam would think if she knew about it either. I mean, I know Sam, she's not the kind of person to just turn away from a friend because of something like that... but I don't think she'd ever be able to look at me the same way."

"Let's be fair here, you being Phantom is probably enough to ensure that she never looks at you the same way again." Tucker pointed out. He frowned a little, wondering what he should say in this situation- Phantom was clearly distressed. He never was very good at comforting people, however much the intent to do so might be there. Should he call Valerie? No, she was even worse at it than he was, and having both of them there might only compound their failures.

"Look, Danny," Tucker frowned, putting a hand on his shoulder after a moment. "You and I both know that I'm not the best at giving advice. It was my idea in the first place that you keep this from her, and maybe that was the wrong idea." He frowned. "I can't really say. Just... go with your gut, dude. Do what you feel is right?"

"That would be so much more helpful if I had any idea what that is." Phantom frowned. "But I guess thanks anyways, Tuck." He said, giving him a small grin. "I'll work something out. In the meantime, you better be either thinking of something to say, or digging a shallow grave for yourself, because there's no way Sam isn't going to come after you."

"Ah, geez, don't remind me." Tucker winced. "You think I can convince Valerie to be my human meat shield?"

"I think Valerie will tell you to man up and fight your own battles." Phantom told him, smirking a little.

"Yeah, that's probably true enough." Tucker laughed, shaking his head. "I guess I had better brace myself and prepare something convincing. Anything you want me to tell her?" He asked, then quirked a brow. "Or not tell her, as the case may be?"

"I... yeah." Phantom said, frowning a little. "Don't tell her about the whole ghostly obsession thing, okay? That's... something I don't really want her to know about. Tell her not to seek me out either. I don't want to take my chances." He shrugged his shoulders, a helpless look crossing his face. "Of course, knowing Sam, you telling her that will probably only make her want to find me more, but it's worth a try."

"Can do." Tucker nodded his head. "My lips are sealed. I'll pass the message on to Valerie as well."

"Thanks Tuck." Phantom couldn't help but grin a little, floating over beside him and giving him a pat on the back. "I can always count on you. Well," he paused, eyeing his friend. "Unless it involves hospitals."

"I already apologized for that, okay?" Tucker said quickly, shooting his friend a glare. It didn't last very long however, and he quickly grinned, laughing a little. "Just don't fight anymore ghosts in hospitals, and I'll think we'll be just fine."

"I will try, but I cannot make any guarantees. Besides, that's what I have Valerie around for now." Phantom said. "Look, you should probably get home. After that speech today, your folks are probably going to be worried about you hanging out after dark." He snorted a little. "Since they know you're probably out with the great and terrifying me."

"Mm, I'll go with the terrifying, but I think the great is overselling it." Tucker joked. "Yeah, you're probably right. You'll be okay with ghosts tonight, Danny?" He asked.

"I suspect I can handle them." Phantom nodded his head.

"Well, call me if you run into any trouble. Parents or no parents, I've got your back, dude. And I'll make sure I don't tell Sam anything I think you wouldn't want her to know." Tucker told him, before giving him a mock salute, and heading out the door.

* * *

"Ah, Maddie!" Vlad exclaimed as he saw who it was on his doorstep this late at night, his earlier anger at being woken up from his slumber vanished as he saw her face. He of course, all but ignored the fact that Jack was standing right next to her. "How delightful it is to see you again! But I must say, it is rather late- is everything alright, my dear?" He asked.

"No, no it isn't V-Man!" Jack barged in, grabbing Vlad by the shoulders. "There's big news, Vladdie! Big, big news, and none of it is very good!"

Vlad's eyes narrowed as he unsuccessfully attempted to break out of Jack's grasp- god lord, but the man was strong. "Yes, well," Vlad said, trying to pry his old college roommate's hands off of him. "Why don't we sit down and have a chat in the living room. It's a bit nippy out right now, what with the chill of autumn approaching in the night air."

"That sounds just fine. We do apologize about coming at such a late hour, but our information couldn't wait." Maddie nodded her head, and motioned for her husband to give Vlad some breathing room. Jack released his death grip on Vlad's shoulders, and the man couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief.

Tugging on his robe to straighten it, he gave them one of his patented politician's smiles, and motioned towards the direction of the living room. "This way please." He said, leading them towards it. Taking a seat in the largest chair there, he gave Maddie a small frown. "My apologies, I would offer tea or something, but I'm afraid I've given my butler the week off."

Not that he even had a butler- it wouldn't do to have someone around who could overhear any of his plans. And he certainly couldn't let the ghost vultures out with these two around.

"That's quite alright. The information we have here is more pertinent than tea." Maddie told him, looking rather serious.

"Oh my." Vlad's eyebrows raised. It must have been serious indeed, he supposed, as he rarely saw Maddie like this. "Please, do go on then."

"We did a wide sweep scan of the Amity Park area." Maddie told him, opening up the file folder she had been carrying. She spread out several papers across the table, and Vlad leaned over to give them a better look. "It's not very detailed I'm afraid- as much as I would like to accurately locate every ghost at once, we've never been able to properly work out what would be needed to do so." She told him. "But we did get a power reading on the ghosts currently located in Amity Park."

"Like we've mentioned before, Phantom is an S Class ghost, and that is considered rather rare." Maddie told him. "But what's distressing to us is that he's not the only S Class ghost here- the reading gave us two. One of them must be Phantom, but we've no idea who the other could be. There's one A Rank ghost in the vicinity as well that's troubling us too."

"I see." Vlad said, narrowing his eyes, as he looked over the papers. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew who the second S Class ghost was- not that he would tell this to Jack and Maddie, of course.

After all, there was no way he was about to reveal to two ghost hunters that he himself was half-ghost. _That _would be foolish.

"This is troubling news indeed." Vlad said after a moment, setting down the sheet of paper. "What do you intend to do about it? Call another town meeting? I can arrange that, if you like."

"No." Maddie shook her head. "News like this could cause a panic. I want to avoid that, if possible." She said, leaning back on the couch, eyes narrowing in thought. "Jack and I will have to look into this matter further- but we thought it was right to inform you as soon as possible, since this is your town and all."

"Yes, well, I'm glad you did." Vlad nodded his head. The news did trouble him somewhat- he knew who the two S Class ghosts were, but as for the A Rank? He'd no idea. He wasn't aware they had anyone that high up on the scale in Amity Park. Most of the ghosts of any significance in the town were allied with him, and Phantom took care of all of the others who weren't.

Well, he would just have to look into this matter himself- surely a ghost of that strength would be an invaluable ally. Phantom had managed to stand up against him in their previous fights, but should he have an A Rank ghost on his side, it might tip the power balance between the two of them at last.

After all, there was no way he would be able to get to Jack Fenton until he'd taken care of Phantom once and for all. The pesky ghost child had gotten in the way of more than just a few plans of Vlad's, and when he thought he'd finally created the perfect distraction- a ghost hunter, out for revenge against Phantom, it turned out that in the end, Valerie Gray had betrayed him.

And Vlad didn't know why- and that was _infuriating_.

Vlad was not a man who liked not knowing things.

Maddie's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "We'll keep you informed of any updates, Vlad." She told him, scooping up the papers and putting them back into the file. "If we learn anything, you'll be the first to know."

"Very good." Vlad inclined his head, standing up. "I knew it was the right choice to call on the two of you as Amity Park's official ghost hunters."

"Of course you were, V-Man!" Jack declared, pounding his friend on the back, a broad grin on his face. "Why, you could travel for miles and not find a better and more competent ghost hunter than Jack Fenton!" He proclaimed.

Vlad had to bite back a sarcastic remark, wondering how it was that Jack so badly managed to overestimate his own abilities. Too full of himself, Vlad thought, but then again, he had always been like that, ever since their college days. He swore the man never stopped to think about anything, and ran on pure impulse. It was part of what made him so bloody annoying.

"Yes, well." Vlad gave them a diplomatic smile. "I'm sure that's very true. Now, if you'll excuse me, it is very late and all, and I would like to get back to bed. I've got an early morning tomorrow, you know, mayoral duties and all."

"Of course. We're sorry to have woken you." Maddie said again, giving him a small smile. "We'll show ourselves out. Good night, Vlad."

"Good night, Maddie." Vlad told her, watching them as they left. It wasn't until the sound of the door closing behind them did he start to move, heading towards the front door. He grimaced as Jack drove that hulking monstrosity of a vehicle into his front gate, making a note to charge the repair bill to him later.

"Now then." Vlad said once they were gone, turning sharply on his heel. Black rings split across his torso, transforming him into his ghostly half, red eyes glowing in the darkness. "It's time to do some investigation of my own."

* * *

"What do you want?" Phantom glowered at the blue skinned ghost floating in front of him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His own green eyes blazed in anger, and he gritted his teeth, well and truly irritated to see the ghost that was currently looking rather smug in front of him. "Don't tell me you're here for another pounding, Plasmius."

"That would imply that you had ever beaten me, Phantom." Plasmius said cooly. "But alas, as much fun as our little fights are, I'm not here for that today. I've something to tell you."

"Is it about the Fentons, because I already know about that." Phantom said. "And I'm not interested in joining you- I thought we'd established that already."

"No, no, nothing of the sort." Plasmius said. "Although if you did join me, I'm sure I could provide you protection against the Fentons..." he trailed off, but a glare from Phantom caused him to lift his hands. "Ah, very well, you want to hear none of that. I understand, I understand. No, what I've come here to talk to you about, young ghost, is something that involves both you and me."

"And that would be?" Phantom asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What do you know about ghost power rankings?" Plasmius inquired.

"Not much." Phantom admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "Didn't even know how strong I was until this afternoon." He said. "What about it?"

"There's another ghost hiding in Amity Park, one of A Rank. And it's not one of mine." Plasmius said simply. "I thought that a do gooder like yourself might want to be aware."

"Why, so you can use me to track him down, and then get him to join you?" Phantom asked, glowering at him.

Plasmius merely gave him a cold smile. "Now, now my boy, the decisions you made in the past were all your own. If as a result of those decisions I gained myself a new knight, then well, that's just how these things play out." He said, spreading his hands in front of him.

"Yeah well, forgive me if I don't trust you or your Intel, Plasmius." Phantom's eyes narrowed. "I know you're up to something, even if I don't know what it is."

"Ah, such suspicion. I'm keep telling you Phantom, that you would be much more valued were you on my side." Plasmius told him. "I don't understand what it is that you get out of playing hero for these humans- they don't appreciate what you do for them. They've even gone so far as to hire ghost hunters to get rid of you. I just don't see why you're even wasting your time."

"Because it's the right thing to do." Phantom said. "Someone like you wouldn't understand Plasmius. You don't have a human heart left."

"Oh, you'd be surprised, my boy." Plasmius' eyebrows raised, a smug look appearing on his face, which caused Phantom to twitch. Oh how he hated that look. "There's much you don't understand about this world. I could teach you those things, though." He told him. "Be your guide. After all, it's very rare that such a young ghost is gifted with such powers- and you still don't seem to quite understand how to fully control them, if I don't miss my guess."

"That's _none _of your business." Phantom snapped, temper flaring. "I am never going to join you Plasmius, not now, not in a million years." A ball of ecto energy formed in his hand, as he locked eyes with the older ghost. "Get lost."

"Ah, there's that temper of yours." Plasmius said, sounding amused. "Very well then, young one, I shall take my leave for the time being. But do remember what I told you. I promise it's not some kind of dastardly trick."

With that, Plasmius disappeared, leaving Phantom alone in the night. He let the ecto energy in his hand dissipate, calming himself. Plasmius always knew exactly how to get him worked up, and he hated it. It was a miracle that he hadn't learned about Sam yet, or anything about past. It was enough that he knew how old Phantom was as a spirit, should he learn anything else, he had very little doubt that he would be able to piece two and two together. And the last thing he wanted to do was have any of his enemies find out that he had a connection to the Fentons.

Because Phantom knew full well that someone like Plasmius wouldn't hesitate to tell the ghost hunters. And it wouldn't end well, Phantom was convinced of that much. They would hunt him, of that Phantom had very little doubt, and they wouldn't stop until they had finally caught him.

But most of all, what Phantom didn't want to see was the looks of horror he was sure that would be there when his parents learned that their son had become what they hated the most in the world.

"A Rank ghost my foot. If there was one around here, it would have shown it's face already." Phantom frowned. Still, perhaps it wasn't wise to dismiss what Plasmius had to say entirely- he did tell the truth sometimes. Groaning a little, he pondered whether or not he should call Tucker or Valerie, but decided against it. It was late, both of them would probably be asleep by now.

It could wait until morning, Phantom thought, letting himself float aimlessly above Amity Park. It was quiet out, the streets only lit by dim lamps. No doubt everyone in town was asleep right now, save for a few who were burning the midnight oil. He would never admit this to his friends, but it got pretty lonely at night when everyone else was asleep. It was enough to make him wish sometimes that he had other ghosts that he could relate to and be friends with.

He didn't, of course. As far as Phantom knew, he was one of a kind.

He knew what his parents said, that ghosts couldn't have emotions. They just had obsessions, and they acted on them. Some of them seemed more human than others- Johnny and Kitty came to mind, but it wasn't the same in the end. But Phantom knew this wasn't the case for him- if he didn't have them, he probably wouldn't be in so much pain over the idea of his parents hunting him, he wouldn't have suffered after...

No, he wasn't going to go there, wasn't going to think about that.

He didn't really understand why he was so different. What was it that made him more human?

Phantom frowned. No, it wasn't exactly that he was alone. Plasmius, as vile as he could be, seemed rather human too- and not in the way Johnny and Kitty did. He didn't understand that either. How could a ghost be closer to being human, and yet, be so evil? He'd clashed enough with the vampire-like ghost to be assured of the fact that Plasmius was about as far away from being a good guy as you could get without being a deranged lunatic. He was cold and calculating, and acted as if everything were a gigantic game of chess- but there was still something human about him.

He thought about asking Plasmius about it sometimes- it seemed that he knew the answer. But he didn't think asking that question would end well, so he kept his silence.

He blinked then, glancing downwards. Before he knew it, he'd ended up at the graveyard. As if drawn there by instinct, his eyes trailed over towards the little graveyard house, but found it dark. Well of course, he supposed. There was no way even Sam would be awake at this hour. Then again, even if she were, Phantom wasn't sure that going to see her would be a good idea.

He knew sooner or later, Sam would track him down, and she would most likely have many questions to ask. He still wasn't sure what he was going to do when she did, and he didn't want to make her even angrier by trying to avoid her.

It would be nice to talk to her again, he couldn't help but think.

Shaking his head, Phantom shook off his thoughts. "Right, patrol." He said. "Can't get distracted. Damn Plasmius."

He cast a long look at the darkened graveyard house, before he flew away into the night.

* * *

Phantom was an enigma.

That much was clear to Plasmius- or rather, to Vlad Masters.

He always ended up thinking about the matter every time the two crossed paths. There was something very human about that ghost, enough so that Vlad had initially thought that perhaps there was another half ghost out there. But no, too much evidence piled up to indicate that Phantom was a true ghost, and Vlad had no reason to doubt it. After all, the only way to become a half ghost was to be affected by the Ghost Portal. And the only Ghost Portals in Amity Park were his own and that of the Fenton's- and surely, the Fentons would have known if someone had been tinkering around with their own.

Phantom was too human. As far as Vlad could tell, he didn't seem to have an obsession- or if he did, he was covering it very well. Phantom got along easily with humans, he knew that much from his close friendship with the Tucker Foley boy. He'd tried to break it before, but it had proven to be iron clad as if they had deep bonds that tied the two of them. A ghost and a human being so close to one another seemed very unlikely to Vlad- ghosts simply weren't capable of such relationships. But it seemed that both Phantom and the Foley boy equally valued each other.

Truly baffling.

Vlad thought about this as he headed down to his own underground lab, securely hidden of course. It wouldn't do if the general public learned that their mayor had a lab filled with all sorts of anti-ghost tech, most of which was shamelessly modeled after the Fenton's.

There was also the matter of Phantom's strange attachment to humans. Was saving people perhaps his obsession? No, if that were the case he would be staging disasters himself, in order to always be saving people. And Vlad didn't think this was the case either. Whatever the case, Phantom couldn't seem to stand the thought of harm coming to the people of Amity Park. And whatever the general populace thought of him, Vlad knew that to be true.

He was a puzzle, and every new piece of information that Vlad gained about Phantom did nothing but deepen the puzzle.

There was also the extremely annoying fact that he constantly got in the man's way. That was what he had chosen Valerie Gray for, knowing that she sought revenge against the ghost boy that ruined the lab her father worked as chief of security for, costing him his job. And for awhile, she did the trick, distracting the ghost every time she showed up, allowing Vlad to accomplish things that otherwise he would be unable to.

And then she had turned on him.

"_That _I don't understand." Vlad said aloud. "Does he have some kind of influence over people? It would explain how close the Foley boy is to him." He pondered, then shook his head. "No, no, it wouldn't explain Phantom's own attachment to him- and Miss Gray, for that matter." The two of them had become awfully close since Valerie had decided to stop hunting Phantom, and started to work with him. Now he had two people foiling his plans, one of whom he had given the very weapons in order to do so.

Perhaps the key to the mystery lay in who Phantom was before his death. Vlad only knew that he was a young spirit- and that in itself was strange too. Ghosts acquired more power the longer they had been around- it didn't make since for a ghost that was barely four or three years old to have so much power. Vlad himself was already more powerful than he should be, but it was his human side and is nature as a half ghost that fueled his rapid rate of growth.

He didn't know what was fueling Phantom's growth, however.

Still, he wasn't so powerful that Vlad couldn't defeat him, should he put his mind to it. But he was annoying, and always had a way of getting in the way. It would be better to be rid of him, if he couldn't get the ghost boy to join him, curious a ghost as he was.

That was part of the reason he had called the Fentons for.

The other part, of course, was to get Jack Fenton closer to him.

Vlad had never forgotten him for making him what he was today- even if it had allowed him to gain a vast wealth and had allowed him to obtain power beyond his wildest dreams, it had also snatched the love of his life away from him forever. That in and of itself was forgivable, but then Jack, knowing full well how he felt about Maddie, had gone on to marry her! Just thinking about it was enough to make anger flare up anew in the half ghost.

However, if Vlad were to take Jack out of the picture, and were then to provide Maddie a shoulder on which to lean, then perhaps fate would smile his way for a change. A tragic accident, a ghost hunting related death... and then Maddie would be his.

He had planned to do this earlier, and had ideas set in motion around three years ago. The tragic death of Maddie's son had put those plans on hold, however, as Vlad wasn't sure that losing two people that she valued so close to one another would be good for her mental health. Maddie was a strong woman, but Vlad was uncertain that anyone was strong enough to take two of their loved ones dying one right after the other from unrelated causes.

But enough time had passed now that Vlad felt that he could safely continue from where he had left off. Maddie would be his, as she so rightfully should be. After all, she would be far happier with him than she would ever be with Jack- and he would even extend his arms to her daughter, Jasmine, as well. They could make one happy family together, he thought, downright picturesque.

"Now then," Vlad spoke up, echoes of a smirk on his face. "Let's see just how competent Jack Fenton _really _is."

* * *

Well, Danny was right about Sam hunting him down. He just didn't expect the 'cornering' part to be so literal.

The school bell had already rung, but Sam had chosen to ignore, instead back Tucker into a corner with a look that said she had half a mind to throttle him. It was all Tucker could do to not get down on his hands and knees and beg for mercy- Sam could be downright scary when she wanted to be!

"Explain." She demanded.

"E-explain what?" Tucker stammered, nervously glancing around, looking for anyone. He felt like he needed an adult.

"I think you know, Tucker Foley." Sam said, eyes narrowing. "Don't play dumb with me."

"Oh, about that thing!" Tucker laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Right, well you know, in the middle of the school hallway, empty or not might exactly not be the best place to discuss something of ah, such a sensitive nature." He said. "So, maybe we should take a rain check!"

"Oh no." Sam shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her. "I know how you play Tucker, and I'm not about to let you slip away from me. We're going to talk." She backed up a little, giving him some much needed breathing room. "And I know you have a key to the school roof, and there's nowhere more private here to talk. So let's talk."

Tucker gave her a long look, before he heaved a deep sigh. "Alright, fine. We'll talk Sam." He grudgingly lead her up to the rooftop, making sure they were well and truly alone, before he turned back towards her. "Okay then. What is it that you want to know?"

"I know about Danny." Sam said. "I want to know why the two of you decided to keep this from me for so long. Did you think I wouldn't understand?" She asked him, looking hurt and offended. "Tucker, I care for Danny just as much as you do- he's my friend, my best friend. I don't care if he's a ghost. I don't care even if he's Phantom! I don't know why the two of you decided to hide this from me for so long. I was hurting too after Danny died! Don't you think I would be happy to know that he was still around?"

"Look Sam." Tucker began, flinching a little. She did have several very good points, and he could only blame himself for the corner he was backed into now. Therefore, it was only right that he had to deal with this now. "It's more complicated than that."

"How?" Sam asked, hands on her hips.

"Well," Tucker frowned, searching for the right words. "Becoming a ghost changes a person, Sam. And you were gone for awhile and we just sort of thought that maybe you wouldn't even believe us if we told you."

"Of course I would have, Tucker." Sam said. "I'm not dumb enough to think that you would try making such a sick joke. I know you better than that. As for Danny changing- I can tell that much, but he's still the same Danny, right? Otherwise why would you still be hanging out with him?"

"Well, yeah of course he's still the same Danny!" Tucker said. "Look Sam, it's a delicate subject, and I can't really go into details about it. But it's probably for the best that you stay uninvolved with us."

"And why would that be?" Sam asked, quirking a brow. "You think I can't handle myself? Last I checked Tucker, I was still way more in shape than you. I think I can manage to protect myself."

"No, that's not it! Of course not, Sam." Tucker laughed. "Trust me, I know you can protect yourself. It's just... there are other issues here, ones I'm not really comfortable talking to you about." He said, frowning a little. "Look, it's not my place to tell you about certain things, okay? And if you value our friendship at all, you won't push me on them." He warned her, meeting her glare.

Sam seemed to concede to this, he did have a point. If there were things that Danny didn't want Tucker telling her, then it wasn't right if she tried to bully them out of him. Still, the thought that there were things that Danny didn't want to talk to her about bothered her- they used to talk to each other about everything! Why was he so secretive now? She would have thought that after she figured it out, he would have come and sought her out, not the other way around.

"You're still going to try to catch him, aren't you?" Tucker asked, looking warily at Sam. "Because I'm not going to help you if you do, and I'm pretty sure Valerie will feel the same way."

"Yes." Sam said simply, then paused a little, a thought popping into her head. "What's the deal with you guys and Valerie anyways?" She asked. That was something that Sam couldn't figure out. They had never been friends, at any point, with Valerie Gray, so why would she suddenly start associating with Danny and Tucker?

"Oh, that's because she's the Red Hunter." Tucker answered her quickly, paling a little when he suddenly realized too late that maybe Valerie didn't want him to go around telling people that.

Sam blinked, then blinked again, as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard. She snorted a little, looking at Tucker in disbelief. "Really?" She asked, laughing. "Valerie Gray, the same Valerie Gray who works as the Nasty Burger mascot is the Red Hunter? Come on Tucker, if you're going to lie about something, come up with something a little more convincing."

"Wait, Valerie's the Nasty Burger mascot?" Tucker asked. He never knew that! Then again, he could understand why Valerie wouldn't tell either of them- he wondered if Danny knew though. Probably not, he thought. "But I'm not lying Sam, Valerie's seriously the Red Hunter. Just, don't tell her I told you that, okay? She probably doesn't want that to be spread around." He told her.

"You're serious." Sam said, giving Tucker a long look. "Well, she was pretty low on my list. Where did she get all of that tech anyways?" Sam asked.

Tucker hesitated a little, glancing down at his feet, before glancing back up at Sam. "Again, keep this strictly between you and I." He began. "We... sort of suspect that she's been getting them from Mayor Masters."

"...what?" Sam blinked again, about to ask Tucker if he were joking again until she gathered that he was telling the truth. "Why would Vlad Masters supply a teenage girl with high tech ghost hunting gear?"

"For the same reason he would call in two of the most well known ghost hunters in America to get rid of him." Tucker said. "Valerie had a grudge against Phantom, and she's tough, you know, real tough. Did you know she's a ninth degree black belt?" He asked her. "Anyways, I guess Mayor Masters must have figured she was the only person in town with enough bloodlust to really try and hunt down Phantom and destroy him, since obviously the Anti-Ghost unit of the police weren't doing their jobs."

"Okay but why does Mayor Masters want to so desperately kill Danny?" She asked, before she flinched a little. 'Kill' wasn't really the right word here, was it? Danny was technically already dead. "Is he really that afraid of him? If he was worried Danny was really evil, wouldn't Valerie turning to your side convince him that maybe this wasn't the case?"

"Apparently not." Tucker shrugged his shoulders. "We don't know what the mayor's deal with Phantom is. For all we know, maybe he just doesn't like him. After all, he doesn't have any kind of attachment to Danny like you and I do. And like I said, that's just a working theory. All of the packages were dropped off at Valerie's place anonymously. They stopped coming obviously after she joined up with us though."

"So do you have any proof?" Sam asked.

"I traced some of the stuff used to make the equipment back to orders placed my Vladimir Masters." Tucker said, shrugging his shoulders. "Obviously, the first order of business once Val joined up was determining who it was that wanted Danny gone so badly. I'm sort of not exaggerating when I say that this is sort of a dangerous thing we're doing here, Sam. It's not just Danny ghosts will fire after, it's me and Val sometimes too. Maybe part of the reason he wanted to keep you in the dark was because he was too afraid of you getting hurt."

"But I can handle-" Sam began, but Tucker cut her off.

"Handle yourself, I know. Danny knows that too." Tucker said. "But this isn't a game, even if we treat it like one sometimes." He told her, a rare serious expression on his face. "We've been doing this for three years, and I've had a couple of near death encounters of my own. Val too, probably more than me since she's more in the line of action. Danny has arch-enemies Sam, people and ghosts who want him gone- like, seriously gone." He frowned then, a dark look on his face, as he rubbed his arms. "Some of it's been enough to make me think about quitting. But I can't quit. I can't just leave my best friend alone like that."

"Does this have anything to do with that incident from awhile ago?" Sam asked. It was rare to see Tucker this serious, and it sort of worried her. Exactly what had they been getting into?

"That and more." Tucker said, frowning. "The Guys in White aren't as incompetent as they look on the outside. They have the government getting on their backs every time they fail, so each time they do, they become more and more desperate. Plasmius has kidnapped me and Val at least once, and you remember that time with the beauty pageant where Valerie was spirited away by that ghost dragon? Have you ever tried to fight a massive, fire breathing ghost dragon? Not easy."

Tucker shook his head. "I've been beaten and bruised, and I know Val and Danny have been through worse. Danny can still feel pain, you know. I mean, he's not supposed to, but he does." He frowned. "Freakshow was one of the worst. Not the worst, but one of the worst. He tried to take Danny away from me, back when it was just me around with him. It's a rough road, I'll be perfectly honest with you. You'd be better off and a lot safer staying away."

"Basically, if you're not serious, you shouldn't get involved." Another voice spoke up, as Valerie made her presence known. She glanced over at Tucker, speaking to him first. "I realized you weren't in class, and given your phone call last night, I figured you might be up here with her."

She turned to Sam then. "I don't know as well as Tucker does your history with Fenton, Sam, but if he felt that it was important not to involve you, then maybe you should take that into serious consideration before you join us." She told her, locking eyes with the goth girl. "Not every ghost is like the Box Ghost."

"I understand that it's serious." Sam said after a moment, looking between Valerie and Tucker. "And it's thoughtful of Danny to try and keep me safe, but I'm not some kind of weak, fragile flower that needs to be protected. Now I might not be a ninth degree black belt- impressive by the way, but I am serious about wanting to help Danny. He's my friend, and friends don't just abandon friends. If anything, I'm way overdue, and having three people by his side will make things easier for him."

"Well, give it some serious consideration." Valerie said finally. "We probably won't be able to snatch anymore Fenton tech for awhile, so Tucker and I will have to work on some anti-ghost equipment in the meantime." She frowned, looking seriously at Sam once again. "That is, if you decide you're absolutely serious about this. There will be both ghosts and people coming after you to get to him, I won't lie to you."

"I'm prepared for that." Sam said, then sighed a little. "But if you are both so intent on me thinking this over, then alright. I'll do so, and I'll get back to the both of you tomorrow. And I would really like it if Danny himself was there too."

"Well, I'll talk to him about it, but I'm not sure he'll be happy to hear it." Tucker said. That was a lie, of course Danny would be happy- but not entirely for all of the reasons Sam might have thought. At least Danny worrying about keeping Sam safe sounded like a valid reason for keeping her in the dark. He'd pass it on to Danny later.

"Alright." Sam nodded her head. "I've got class to get to. I've missed enough this week as it is." She said, heading towards the door.

"Yeah, I heard about that Manson. If it means anything, I hope they both pull through." Valerie said, pausing to put a hand on her shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile. "Losing the people you care about is hard."

"Have you ever lost anyone?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. My mom." Valerie told her. "I was still just a little girl then, so I don't remember her very well... but it hurts even so."

"I see." Sam paused. "I didn't know." She said after a moment. "But thanks. I hope they'll both pull through as well." She said, giving her a small smile. "My dad will probably be pissed once he gets out of the hospital to learn I've joined up with Phantom though." She said, laughing a little. "He didn't even like Danny when he was alive, I don't think being dead would make any difference at all."

"_If _you join up with us." Valerie added.

"Right," Sam said, with a glimmer in her eyes that said it wasn't really a matter of 'if'. "_If _I join up with you."

* * *

Sam heaved a sigh, nearly collapsing on the kitchen table as she arrived back at Mr. Hansaw's home, stretching her arms out over it. It had ended up being a long day after all. She had gone back to the hospital after school again, and while there had been promising news about her father, there was still no news in regards to her mother. She couldn't help but start to wonder if the nagging feeling of worry that was pulling at her was worth listening to after all.

"So it really was like that after all..." Sam said aloud, glad that Mr. Hansaw seemed to be out for the moment. He hadn't left a note, but he was rather absent minded sometimes. It was to be expected.

Somehow, even though she had confirmed it yesterday, somehow it didn't fully hit home with her until she'd heard Tucker speak about Phantom like he was Danny that they were _really _one and the same. Tucker said that Danny had changed, and that much Sam knew was true.

She didn't know, however, exactly how much danger they were putting themselves in. She knew the Guys in White were always after Phantom, but she didn't know to what extent they were hunting him. She shuddered, unable to help but imagine what they would do if they were able to get their hands on him.

She couldn't help but see the whole Freakshow affair painted in a whole new light, either. Sure, she knew that Freakshow had turned out to be a ghost controlling thief, who used Circus Gothica as a cover for his ghost robbery ring. But when Phantom had turned evil then, Sam hadn't though much of it. She wasn't in Amity Park at the time, and had just heard the reports over television. It was the first time she had ever heard of Phantom, to be honest, and the impression she got of him initially wasn't exactly a flattering one. She felt almost kind of guilty about that now.

And then there was this Plasmius ghost, and Sam had no idea even who she was. Did that mean there were ghostly enemies that Phantom fought that didn't back the news? That was a chilling thought.

But she wanted to help.

She had already made up her mind, there was no need to consider anything. She was firmly resolved, and no matter what any of them might say, she wouldn't be forbidden to join them. She wasn't going to just hang out in the background and do nothing while Danny and Tucker fought off horrible things. She could and _would _help, she knew that.

"You seem pretty resolved!" A cheerful voice broke Sam out of her thoughts. She blinked, looking up to spot Mr. Hansaw. Strange, she hadn't even heard him come in- she must have been more out of it than she thought. "You make up your mind about your story?"

"Well, not exactly." Sam said. "I still don't know how it ends, but I've got a new idea that I think could really turn things around."

"Oh, is that so?" Erich grinned, heading over to the fridge. "Ah, I got some apple pie today. Do you want any?"

"Ah, sure." Sam said. "It's vegetarian, right?"

"I swear on my honor!" Erich said, giving her a mock salute, then gave a sly smile and a dark chuckle. "Now she'll never suspect that I've laced it with chunks of bacon." He said, turning away from her and letting out an evil laugh.

"Unless you monologue to yourself, that is." Sam laughed a little, shaking her head. "Serve me up a plate. I could use a little comfort food today."

"Aye aye, ma'am!" Another mock salute, and Erich pulled out the apple pie from the fridge, serving up a slice for her, and another for himself. Sliding the pie back in, he took a seat across from her, taking a bite out of his pie. "So? What's this new idea you've got for your story?"

"Ah?" Sam blinked, then laughed a little, a bit nervous. "Oh, well, right now the main character's old friend has decided that she's going to help him fight off evil vampires and vampire hunters, and that they're going to protect him from his parents." She told him, taking a bite out of her pie. "Mm, this is good. Did you get it from the bakery on Main Street?"

"That I did!" Erich nodded. "Well, that sounds interesting. But you know what else would sound interesting?" He asked.

"Shoot." Sam shrugged. She wasn't actually writing a novel of course, but it would look weird if she didn't listen to his ideas.

"Let's see... let's say that the town mayor is actually a vampire hunter." Erich said, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, oh, but he's also a vampire. No, maybe not a vampire..." He frowned, drumming his fingers along the table. "What do they call them, oh yeah! He's a dhampir or something. Half-vampire, and they have to fight off his dastardly schemes."

Sam blinked. That sounded a little bit like what Tucker was telling her about earlier in the day. Except Vlad wasn't a vampire- or a ghost, as the case might be. After all, if the town mayor was a ghost, there was no way they wouldn't have noticed by now. The Fentons, at least, would have surely noticed something. "I guess that sounds interesting. I'll consider it."

"And the second!" Erich said, grinning as he held up two fingers. "The second is that the vampire that turned the boy in the first place, one that he nearly killed earlier returns, intent on revenge, even stronger than before. Doesn't it sound like he would make a great antagonist? Then the vampire boy, his parents, and even the mayor would be forced to ally themselves with each other against him and his devious plots."

"Mm, I guess." Sam considered, chewing on her apple pie. "Maybe you should be a writer instead of a grave keeper, Mr. Hansaw." Sam laughed lightly. "You're not bad."

"Nope, I am definitely terrible!" He laughed, finishing off his pie. "Ah, that's right Sammie. I'll be busy tonight, so you'll have to figure out dinner by yourself. I'll leave some money here for you in case you want to get something for yourself. Consider it an advance on your paycheck." He told her.

"Oh? Are you going on a date or something?" Sam inquired.

"Something like that!" Erich said, grinning at her. "Someone I know is coming back to town." He said, turning around to wash his plate. Although his tone was kept light and jovial, a serious look crossed his face, as his eyes narrowed. "I thought I would be here to greet him personally. It's been a long time since we last saw each other, and I missed him the last time I was in town, and thought I wouldn't get another chance to see him, so I can't pass this up!"

"Oh, does he know you're coming?" Sam asked.

"Nope!" Erich turned back around, grinning cheerfully once more. "It'll be a surprise."

"I see." Sam nodded her head, finishing off her own pie, and passing the plate to Erich. "Well, I've got homework now, so I'll be up in the guest room. Tell me when you're heading out though."

"Will do." Erich promised her. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, about to say something, but then seemed to change his mind. He narrowed his eyes then, considering something else. "Ah, that's right, Sammie. Could I ask you to do a favor, in case I don't get back home until late?"

"Sure, what?" Sam glanced back at him.

"If I'm not back by midnight, can you take these books off the book shelf in my room for me?" He asked her, then laughed a little. "I was planning on donating them to the library and if it's not done before I go to bed, I'll probably forget. Just set them on my bedside table so I won't forget to bring them with me when I go out to the town meeting in the morning."

"There's going to be another town meeting tomorrow?" Sam asked, then nodded her head. "Sure, I'll do it." It seemed like a bit of an odd request, but it was the least she could do for someone offering her a place to stay.

"Apparently." He laughed. "Mayor Masters is calling all the people in from the town council to talk about the 'Phantom problem'. I guess I can't skip out on this one."

"I see." Sam said, frowning a little. That was worth passing on to Tucker, if he didn't know about it already. "Alright, I'll do it. You have a fun night, Mr. Hansaw, and don't worry about how long you're out, I'll be fine. I'll even wake you up in the morning before school so you don't miss the meeting."

"Ah, thanks Sammie!" Erich grinned. "I knew I could count on you. Anyways, you best get on that homework." He said. She nodded, and headed upstairs. His eyes narrowed once she was gone, gripping the sideboard of the kitchen counter hard.

"Old _friend_, huh."


	8. There Once Was a Man Named London

Author's Note: And then, from oblivion, I emerge! Whoops sorry about the slip again, but here is a new chapter of Graveyard Shift! Hopefully I will get out a couple more fic updates before my attention is turned elsewhere and for that I apologize. Thanks for all being good sports about this though, you guys are the best and I would hug every one of you if I could.

We're getting into the real meat of the story now yaaay~ At long last.

As always, Danny Phantom does not belong to me. Erich Hansaw and James London do, however. Please read and review, if you feel so inclined!

* * *

Graveyard Shift REDUX

Chapter Eight: There Once Was a Man Named London

Late night ghost ruckus was pretty old hat for Phantom by now. It didn't surprise him anymore no matter what kind of ghost showed up and what kind of antics they were up to. So when he found the Box Ghost up to his ears in trouble at the package store, building himself a castle out of cardboard boxes and declaring himself 'Lord King of All Boxes', it really didn't surprise him. If anything, it served to amuse him- he could be a nuisance at times, but the Box Ghost sure was good for a laugh from time to time.

Apparently regal titles didn't make him less easier to catch, and Phantom spun the Fenton Thermos around his hand, humming to himself as he left the package store. He figured the workers could figure out what to do with the boxes later- he'd no idea where they were even supposed to go, it was best not to mess with it. Who knows, maybe the box castle would bring them some business?

His next destination, after doing a perimeter sweep of Amity Park and finding it quiet as could be, was attempting to intrude upon Fenton Works. If he could, he would ditch this responsibility on Tucker, use him as a proxy, but he didn't imagine it would go all over that well if he arrived on his parent's doorstep with a Thermos full of captured ghosts, via his good friend Phantom. So he resigned himself to his fate.

He would be lying if he said it was for any other reason than not really wanting to see them. Not seeing them made things easier. He could just pretend they weren't here, and weren't hunting him if he didn't see them. He could pretend that things were still as they had been for the past three years, and he could pretend he didn't have to worry about dealing with the one group of people that he had hoped to never see again.

How nice things would be if that were the case.

And at the same time, he missed them- and wanted to see them, and had, all this time. Of course he did, they were his parents, and he was ultimately still just a sixteen year old boy, ghost or not. Of course he missed his parents, and even his sister, annoying as she could be. It would have been weirder for him not to have. In all honesty, there was a part of Phantom that yearned to just come clean to them and to hope for the best- he had a vague feeling Jazz would understand but-

His parents were another story.

He had to remind himself every day that this would be the case. There wasn't going to be a miracle, his parents would never accept him this way, even without his reputation. To them, he was a ghost- and that was all. They'd already made their opinions quite clear about what they would do if they came across the ghost of their son- hunt him, just like they did with every other ghost.

No exceptions.

"Good thing I disabled the ghost shield." Phantom remarked, turning invisible as he flew into view of the building. And of course by disabled, he meant that he had blown up every ghost shield generator in the house after he learned that his parents were coming back, not wanting them to be used against him. He bet that annoyed them, but he wasn't taking a chance of being forbidden access until he had a back up plan for entering Fenton Works to dispose of his nighty ghosts. They would rebuild a functioning one eventually, of course, but for now, he had time to think.

Slipping silently and invisibly into his old home, Phantom paused a little, hovering quietly in the living room. He caught sight of his mother, tinkering away with a machine, and his father sitting across from her, engaging in needlepoint, while occasionally tossing a suggestion to his wife- most of which were completely shot down, given their nature. Seeing them together almost made him smile a little, at the very least he was glad that his sudden death hadn't completely broken his family apart.

Well, it would take a lot more to break the bonds that the Fenton family held with each other- and it was part of Phantom's current problem. He mulled over it a little as he slipped silently into the lab, floating over towards the Fenton Portal. Landing in front of it, he placed the Fenton Thermos on the port to send the ghosts back, thinking all the while. He already knew he didn't have it in him to hurt his parents- at least, he hoped that he didn't. Somehow or another, he would have to deal with them without harming them.

Getting his parents to trust him wasn't one of the options he even considered. He knew better than to be that naive.

Snatching up the Fenton Thermos as it give of a familiar ding sound, letting him know it had been empty, Phantom paused- and then couldn't help but grin a little, before turning around, locking eyes with his mother- who had also locked an ecto-pistol on him. "Somehow I'm not surprised to find you here." He said, arching an eyebrow.

"It is my house." Maddie said shortly. She knew that Phantom was bound to come back at some point- if he had a Fenton Thermos, then he would likely return at some point to deposit ghosts into the Ghost Zone. It was just a matter of installing a simple silent alarm on the Ghost Portal. She hadn't told Jack about it, as she was afraid, as much as she loved him, that his bumbling would allow Phantom to slip away. "I'm not surprised to see you here either, Phantom. According to our logs you've been using the portal pretty frequently."

"You should probably be thanking me from not letting it blow up your house. Well, you should thank Tucker more for noticing something like that in the first place." Phantom observed, holding up his hands, trying to make it clear that he had no intention of fighting her. Maddie took note of this action to be sure, but did not lower her ecto-pistol. On the other hand, she wasn't firing it, which was always a start.

"I'll give you that much. That said, I am very mad at seeing all of our ghost portals destroyed, which cancels that feeling out." Maddie nodded her head a little. It was true, it was foolish of them to leave the Ghost Portal running, even though they knew the dangers of leaving the Ecto-Filtrateor go unchanged for a lengthy period of time. But then again, back then, they hadn't exactly been thinking straight. Maybe deep down, Maddie had _wanted _to see the Ghost Portal destroyed, seeing as it had taken her precious son from her.

Something that she had invented, with her own two hands, had robbed one of the most important people in her life from her. The guilt that she felt she bore for this was unbearable. She almost didn't want to face it- nor did she want to face the guilt that she felt was hers for letting Amity Park fall into the state it was in, in the first place.

Now that Maddie thought about it, it was their absence in Amity Park that allowed it to become overrun by ghosts- and allowed it to become Phantom's territory, where the ghost boy felt that he had free reign to do whatever he pleased.

And it was their absence, surely, that allowed the events of two years ago to take place. Were she here, Maddie would have never allowed such a thing to happen- she would have dealt with Phantom long before it.

"Are you going to shoot me then?" Phantom asked, thankful that his time dealing with Valerie had given him considerable composure when someone he knew held him at gunpoint- even if that person was his own mother. "Well, I didn't really picture you much as the 'shoot first, ask questions later' type. Your husband on the other hand..." He shrugged his shoulders. He knew his parents, of course he did- and he knew that his mother was driven far more by scientific curiosity than his father was. His father... by and large, he just wanted to protect people, and if that meant sacrificing some scientific knowledge in order to do so, then that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

"You seem to know us pretty well for our first meeting." Maddie observed. She wasn't sure why the thought had struck her- it was just that there something vaguely familiar about this ghost. It didn't feel as if this was really her first meeting with the ghost boy. To be honest, it put her ill at ease, something about the face and the voice that tugged at her mind. She didn't want to think about it too much, for a change, as if somehow she subconsciously knew that those thoughts would take her to a place that she didn't like.

So she didn't think about it, put it from her mind.

"What, you thought I wouldn't try to learn about the people hunting me? Give me some credit here." Phantom chuckled a little. "I asked Tucker about the two of you. He was forthcoming." He said. From the look that flashed across his mother's face, Phantom realized he would probably have to apologize to Tucker the next time he saw him. "It's not like you think, you know. I'm not using him. He's my friend."

Maddie seemed to pause for a moment, her expression momentarily becoming unreadable. "I realize that much." She said after a moment, and this caught Phantom by surprise, causing the ghost to blink.

"Wait, really?" Phantom said, staring at his mother as if she had just grown a third eye. Was this some kind of new trick? Was she trying to get him to let his guard down? "Because I was pretty much under the impression that you didn't think ghosts could have friends."

"Phantom, I'm not stupid." Maddie pointed out. "I can tell there's something different about you. That much I know. What I want to know is why. You don't operate like other ghosts do- you think, all the evidence seems to suggest that you posses genuine feelings. I know Tucker Foley, and in spite of what I may say to him, I know he's not the kind to be so easily strung along by someone who doesn't mean anything that they say." She smiled a little, and it was an expression that quite frankly, unnerved him to no end. "You are a truly fascinating specimen, and I can't just waste you by vaporizing you. There could be so much we could learn from studying you."

"Hey okay, I am _not _okay with that!" Phantom said, floating upwards and away from his mother a bit. Shouldn't the fact that he had genuine feelings be a deterrent to using him for scientific experimentation? Apparently not, to his mother, a ghost was still a ghost, no matter how unique they were. "I am _not _interested in being some kind of lab rat, no thanks!"

"You say that as if you have some kind of say in the matter. It's not like you have much of a choice- either become the subject of my experiments, or be destroyed. We can't just allow a ghost as potentially dangerous as you to continue to exist freely." Maddie said, before the familiar whirring of an ecto-pistol charging met Phantom's ears. Apparently, that was all the conversation that they were going to have, and now his mother had switched into full on hunter mode. Dodging the blast, Phantom swore underneath his breath, turning invisible, quickly hightailing it out of there.

"Oh great." He groaned, putting some distance between him and Fenton Works. "It was bad enough when I thought they just wanted to destroy me. Now they want to turn me into a lab rat?" He winced. "And most likely destroy me afterwards. My afterlife sure just keeps on getting better and better."

* * *

At this time of night, the local park was usually empty of visitors. Nobody wanted to be out and about after dark, no one sensible at least. The presence of a new pair of ghost hunters in the city did not do much to assuage such fears, in part because many of the good people of Amity Park remembered exactly what Jack Fenton was like. Maddie, they trusted, but they also recalled that Jack had a tendency to screw things up even when his highly competent wife was around.

But that night, the park was not empty.

Smoking was not normally a habit that Erich Hansaw engaged in, it was a habit that he was long trying to quit. But every so often, he lit up a cigarette, and tonight was one such night. Leaning back on one of the park benches, he blew out a ring of smoke, before his body tensed slightly, and he smirked, placing the cigarette between his lips, standing up to face the person who approached him.

"I missed you the last time you came into town." Erich spoke, locking eyes with this other person. A well groomed young man, most likely in his mid twenties. Black hair, neatly slicked back and cut short and dark, dark brown eyes which were eerily unreadable, he looked the polar opposite of Erich's own laxidasical appearance, stray hairs poking out here and there from a rather careless ponytail.

"It's quite alright, your daughter was most charming in the meantime." The man spoke, a hint of an echo to his voice. His stance was relaxed and rather casual, but for all the world there was something downright predatory in the way that he held himself. It was enough to put one on edge. "At least, that is, until her boorish friends interrupted. Well, I suppose I was able to amuse myself quite well with them at any rate."

Erich's eyes narrowed, a flash of anger surfacing in his eyes. "I want to know, London- exactly how many innocent people did we put to death over the years chasing your ghost?" He asked.

"Ah yes, quite astute of you." The man, London, seemed to smile. "I don't suppose your coworkers were quite taken with that theory. I suppose they thought your despair had gotten to your head. And that's why you ended up here, isn't it? You changed your name and erased your history. What is it that you're doing these days, digging graves for the dead? How amusing. What do you hope to accomplish by that? Do you intend to cleanse your hands of sin?"

"I don't think I need to be spoken to about sin by the likes of yourself." Erich observed. "I thought that you would return to this city. You are not a man who enjoys unfinished business, after all- not to mention this city is too interesting for you to avoid. It was only a matter of waiting for your return."

"Ah, you know me so well." London said, taking a step back. "I'm not quite sure what you intend to do against me. You've always been powerless. I'll admit, I was impressed when you managed to catch me previously, and it was amusing so I want along with it. But I don't feel quite so inclined this time. I like this current body after all, quite handsome, charismatic, very useful. It's hard to find a suitable body to possess these days, after all. And to think, the last one that I liked so much was blown away by an Anomaly."

"I must remember to teach that Phantom child a lesson while I am here. How good of him to have friends here! Perhaps he'll put on another little show for me, I do enjoy his rage so much." London said, marinating his rather cheerful grin throughout his speech. "That much power in a ghost who keeps himself bound by some silly moral code is such a shame after all. He could make a useful ally to me if he would just let all that rage and anger he carries get the better of him."

"You really don't understand people all that well, do you?" Erich observed, shaking his head.

"And what will you do, precisely?" London inquired. "Kill this body- or try to at any rate, as I have no intention of letting you. But should you succeed, what then? You know it won't end unless you destroy me- and I don't think that you have the power to do so. After all, you're only human."

"You'd be surprised at what humans are capable of doing when they put their minds to it." Erich told him, casually shrugging his shoulders and blowing smoke out from his cigarette. "Or when they're filled with the desire for revenge."

"For your daughter?" London asked, a note of amusement dancing in his voice. "She was a very pretty little girl. What was her name, again? Ah yes, that's right... it was Danielle, wasn't it? But never fear. Perhaps you will see her again sooner than you think."

And with those words, he raised his hand, bright green flames flickering to life.

* * *

"Yikes." Valerie couldn't help but cringe as Phantom described to her his earlier encounter with his mother. "If I were in your shoes, Fenton, I would feel the same way. The thought of being turned into a lab rat- now that puts shivers up my spine." She said, shaking her head. "Your mother sounds pretty intent on accomplishing this, though. What do you intend to do about it? Convince her that you're less interesting than you really seem?"

"That would only serve to accomplish her wanting to go back to destroying me only. Which, honestly, is not a very appealing option either." Phantom said. The two ghost hunters of Amity Park had met up with each other shortly afterwards, exchanging information- ghost activity had been a bit low now that the Fentons had returned, as if the other ghosts were testing the waters, seeing how these two new ghost hunters were going to change things.

Although there was something about the lack of activity that almost bothered Phantom. He couldn't quite put his finger on it- but it didn't seem like observing the two new hunters was the only reason the ghosts hadn't been coming out that much for the past two days. Aside from the Box Ghost and Plasmius, Phantom had barely seen anyone- not even Skulker.

It was almost like they were afraid of something.

"Better than becoming a lab rat." Valerie said, sitting on her jet sled, watching her ghostly companion float next to her. "Why is she so fixated on you anyways?"

"I don't know. Something about me being unique." He frowned. "I've never really considered myself all that unique. I mean, there are other ghosts who aren't always trying to create mayhem, right? Like Dora and Frostbite." He said. "And Johnny and Kitty only get into trouble when they're fighting with each other."

"Which is a lot." Valerie noted. "Why do they keep getting back together anyways?"

"Eh, I don't know, probably some weird ghost crap." Phantom frowned. "But I don't think I'm that unique. I mean I guess there's that ranking from the other day but... well, to be honest I don't really feel like an S Class. If that were the case I wouldn't be having problems with the likes of Plasmius and the Fright Knight." He noted.

"You've got some serious power inside of you, though." Valerie recalled- and then flinched. She wasn't supposed to bring that up, was she? Just as she thought, a troubled look came across Phantom's face, no doubt recalling memories that he so badly wanted to suppress. "Ah, sorry. It's just that I thought it could be related, that's all. I don't think you have any kind of hidden evil inside of you, Fenton, it's not that. Some darkness, maybe, but not evil."

"No, I know." He frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, I just don't like dwelling on all of that. I still haven't forgiven myself for any of it. I don't really think that I ever will."

"It's not really your fault, you know." Valerie reminded him gently.

"No, it's a little my fault." Phantom frowned, his expression grim. "I can't just dismiss any reasonability. If you and Tucker hadn't been there... well, it probably would have gotten worse. I don't know if I would have been able to come back."

"But you did." Valerie pointed out. "Look, Fenton. I'll admit. There are some nasty things that might be creeping about in you, but those things aren't you. At that time your power got out of control because you were under extreme duress. Anyone in your circumstances would have done the same thing, but I'm not sure anyone in your circumstances would have been able to come back."

She frowned a little, searching for words- she usually wasn't good at things like this, she wasn't much one for talking normally. "What I'm trying to get at is that you didn't let it consume you, and I think even if Tucker and I hadn't been there, you still would have come back to yourself Fenton. That's why I decided you weren't the evil ghost that I thought you were at first, why I decided to forgive you for everything."

Phantom couldn't help but smile a little at her words, realizing that Valerie, of all people, was trying to comfort him- not exactly her area of expertise. "No, I think I understand what you're getting at, Val. And... thanks for it I guess. It's nice to know that I have people who support me even still. Oh," he blinked, his ghost sense going off.

"I guess some more ghosts are finally coming out. Great I was getting bore-" His words fell short, however, when a powerful shiver ran up his spine, causing his green eyes to go wide. There was something flickering in front of them, a faint voice that could just barely catch his ears. But as the ghost in question came more into existence, what color the pale ghost had drained completely from his face, leaving him as white as his hair.

A young girl, no more than eleven or twelve, raven black hair, and blue eyes. He knew that face. And he knew that voice, which was desperately calling out to him, cracking and breaking with the effort, just as her image, as if it took all of her power to even maintain a hint of a existence in the human world.

"Dani!" Phantom cried out, half not daring to approach the flickering ghost girl, for fear that she would break apart if he got any closer to her. How could this even be? Of course he knew that ghosts were often borne from the deceased, but it had been two entire years and there hadn't been a single sign of her, so he had assumed that she was never coming back. And somehow, the feeling of unease that he had, had now only grown worse because of her appearance.

"Please!" She finally croaked out, her voice breaking with the effort, but finally loud enough to make herself heard. She was crying, and keeping herself together was taking everything she had. "Please save him!" She cried out, already feeling her form breaking apart. No, she couldn't break apart this easily, she still had things she needed to say! She had to tell him, had to warn him about what she knew.

"The park... please!" She chocked out again, only a few words now managing to audibly escape from her lips. "Phantom! Back... the... no, body... help!"

"Dani!" Phantom cried out again, this time lunging towards her, but reached her only as her image broke apart, leaving him trying to embrace empty space. For awhile his eyes were transfixed in horror on the spot- had she just vanished, just like that? He had been waiting all this time for her to come back, and she was already gone?

"She's not gone." Valerie spoke up, her helmet's visor down, placing a hand on the ghost's shoulder. "She's too weak to maintain her form properly in the human world. Most likely she's already returned to the Ghost Zone." She paused, pushing the visor up, glancing back down at him. "That was that girl, wasn't it? The one that you and Tucker became friends with?"

"Yeah." Phantom said, only a little comforted by Valerie's assurance that she hadn't just vanished like that. "But what was she saying? Who did she want to save? Something about the park..." He mumbled, before another cold shiver ran down his spine- and for all the world he could have sworn that he felt like he wanted to hurl, in spite of being a ghost. All of a sudden, it was like he could recognize a presence, one that had been hiding underneath the surface, and it was one that he had hoped to never come across again.

"I have to go." He said, his eyes wide. "He's there in the park." Phantom mumbled, placing a hand on his head, trying to get a grips on his senses. Before Valerie could protest, he was already off, shooting off almost like lighting towards the park, going so fast, Valerie could barely even follow him with her eyes.

Somehow she got the feeling that she should hurry to the park as well.

* * *

There was now a smoking, gaping hole in the park bench Erich had just been standing in front of it. He had barely ducked out of the way in time from the rather vicious looking blast of- it was ectoplasmic energy, wasn't it? His cigarette had dropped to the ground, having fallen out of his mouth, and it took him a moment to realize that he hadn't dodged the blast completely- the charred fabric of his coat and shirt suggested otherwise, as well as the burn his right shoulder had taken.

"I really should have suspected you'd have powers." He mumbled, mostly to himself. Why was he so surprised anyways? He'd been in Amity Park long enough to see all sorts of crazy things, so he wasn't sure why he hadn't prepared himself for the idea that the man before him would be able to have access to such abilities.

After all, the man before him, James London, was a ghost. Perhaps ghost wasn't quite the right word for it- spirit, specter, Erich wasn't really sure. For as much as he had been studying the subject since he had the revelation, he was by no means an expert. But he knew enough to know that what he was facing was no man- the body he wore was that of a human, but inside was not a human soul. Perhaps the ghost that possessed it was once of the human sort, but any such humanity had long since been stripped away from him.

James London was most likely not even his real name, but it was the one that Erich had been introduced to him by and thus it was the only thing that he could think of to really call him. He'd never been able to discern the exact name of the possessing spirit in question- there were many names for him, it seemed. Calling him by the one he knew made things much simpler.

"I thought you were smarter than that." London observed. "That was why I decided to play along with you in the first place. You were such a worthy opponent, and after so long of nobody interesting around! It was so wonderful that I wanted to play with you again- shame that all got interrupted." He shrugged his shoulders at this, not looking very upset at all. "Still, I've found some very interesting things in this city. An Anomaly of a sorts I've never encountered before! And the mayor of this place is quite the delight himself, an Anomaly in his own rights."

"A man simply does not stop becoming a skeptic overnight." Erich observed, placing a hand lightly over his singed shoulder. It didn't seem as if it was bad as it looked, but it was going to need some medical treatment. Provided, of course, that he could deal with what was currently in front of him before that, he thought to himself, as the man before him prepared to launch another wave of the ectoplasmic flames towards him.

And then in a quick motion, the flames meant for Erich were redirected, cast towards the sky, impacting against an ecto blast, the resulting forces creating a small explosion. From the look on London's face, Erich could tell that something more interesting than him had arrived- and a quick glance towards the sky had told him that he was right.

Phantom was puzzled. Surely, he had felt that man's presence, but upon arriving here, neither of the people before him were that man. Wasn't one of them the grave keeper, the one that Sam worked for? What was his name anyways? The two had never spoken, so for the life of him, Phantom couldn't recall- as for the other man, Phantom had never seen him before in his life.

And despite the fact that he had clear just flung a wave of ectoplasmic flames at him, Phantom's ghost sense wasn't going off.

What was going on?

"Ah, Phantom." London gave him a rather chilling smile. "How nice of you to join us. I was hoping that you would come."

* * *

"It's getting pretty late." Sam observed with a yawn, setting aside her book. Although she had wanted to go out that night and look for Phantom, she had promised to house sit for Erich, and that promise had outweighed her plans for the moment. First thing in the morning, however, she would be setting out to look for the ghost boy, in spite of what Tucker and Valerie had told her. She wanted some answers, and she had the feeling that the only place she was actually going to get them was from the person in question himself. Nobody else seemed to want to talk to her, and honestly, it was more than a little infuriating. What the hell was Danny even hiding that he could tell Tucker and Valerie, but not her?

She wanted to give him a piece of her mind.

She also wanted to apologize.

Deep down, she still felt like Danny wouldn't be like this, he would be alive and well, if she hadn't implanted the idea of checking out his parent's portal in his head. Maybe if she had gone home with him that night, and they had done homework at his place, it wouldn't have happened. But she knew that she couldn't change the past- the only thing she could do in the present was apologize and try to help him with anything that she could. And she would, too- there was nothing that was going to stand in the way of this.

"Ah, that's right." She said, suddenly recalling her promise with Erich, glancing over at her bedside clock. "Yikes, it's after midnight already even. I had better set those books aside." Sam said, setting aside her own book. Getting up off her bed, she headed over towards Erich's room, having snatched up the scrap of paper he had written the book titles on.

"Pardon me~." She said upon entering, and headed over towards the book case. Oh good, it was in alphabetical order, this would make finding things all that much easier, she thought, humming to herself a little as she searched for the first book. He was sure out rather late, though! She wondered what he was up to- exactly what kind of old friend was it that he was meeting? Well, at any rate, Sam hoped that she was having fun.

"And the last one is..." She said to herself, smiling a little as she found the last book, plucking it off the shelf, and moving to set it aside. However, the book came crashing down with a clatter as hidden gears behind the bookshelf began to work, and the bookshelf itself swung away, revealing a staircase heading downwards. For a moment, Sam was unable to find her voice, not quite knowing how to react to the fact that her boss apparently had a hidden staircase located behind a bookshelf. Sure, they actually had something like that in her own home, but apparently, according to her grandmother at least, that was the kind of thing all rich people's homes had.

Although to be honest, Sam was always immensely suspect of that claim.

Added to the fact was that there must have been a reason why Erich had told her to pull these specific books off the shelf- had he wanted her to see this? Why didn't he just show it to her himself then? Suddenly, there was a tight feeling in the gut of her stomach. While she had only known him for a rather short period of time, she'd gotten to like the rather clumsy and often absent minded grave keeper. Had something happened to him? Was something going to happen to him?

And yet... curiosity got the better of her, and she found herself halfway down the staircase before she even knew she was moving. Thankfully, the dark staircase lead into a well lit, but rather cramped room, one which was covered with various books, the walls lined with articles that had been pinned up. Her eyes fell on these first, for the moment, missing the file folders that were cast upon the desk within the room.

She spotted one she was familiar with right away- one that had been written the day after the incident two years ago, the one that had cost Phantom his heroic reputation to many in Amity Park. That day, when an explosion of his ghostly power had torn through a city block, costing several residents their lives, others to be injured, and thousands of dollars in property damage. There had never been a proper explanation for it, and now that she thought about it, that was high on her priority list of things to ask Danny the next time she met him. Knowing what she knew now, she felt as if there was some kind of reason behind it, and yet, it was almost sort of sickening to her now how quick she had been to accept the explanation that Phantom had merely shown part of his true colors on that day.

How did Danny deal with all of that, anyways? How did he deal with the whispers, the rumors, people's expectations of him? How did he deal with a town where half of the residents considered him to be public enemy number one? Where they had called in ghost hunters specifically to wipe him off the face of the Earth?

And how did he deal with knowing that those ghost hunters were his own parents?

No, now she was getting distracted. She would ask him those things later- there would be time, she thought, surely there would be time. Instead, she glanced over the rest of the pasted articles- and there were many. There were others about the incident, but more still, all of which appeared to be unrelated. There were articles about the conviction of the serial killer, James London, from five years ago- Sam recalled that. The horror that had shook the nation to it's core had finally been ended, and she recalled the country as a whole breathing a sigh of relief as the death sentence was passed down and quickly carried out.

There were others still, some so old they had to be contained within little plastic holders, yellowed with age. Murders, killings, kidnappings, explosions, acts of terrorism- the only connection seemed to be crime. Why had Erich been collecting these? For what purpose? It didn't seem to merely be a hobby, she thought, as she found herself turning her attention to the books on the shelves that lined the wall in front of her.

Picking one out, she flipped it open, paging through it. It was a book on the occult, on alchemy, to be exact, from the looks on it. Casting a glance at the rest of the books, she noticed that they were all about the supernatural, some of them looking to be very old. Placing the one she held in her hands back, she frowned, wondering still. It was then that her eyes fell on the files, and she froze.

Why did he have a file on Phantom?

With slightly shaking hands, almost as if she didn't want to open it, Sam flipped the file open. The first thing that greeted her was a news article, one too, she recalled all too well.

_Local teenager dies in accident._

There was an article on Danny's death in Phantom's file. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Erich had known- but for how long? His obituary was there too, as well as other snippets about the accident. And then there were the countless articles about Phantom, detailing all his exploits that had made headline news. The folder was overflowing with them, in fact.

She took a glance at the other files on the table- there was a thin one simply labeled 'Fenton', with articles about Danny's parents contained within, including the most recent one about their return. Missing from the file were the articles about the accident, instead placed in Phantom's folder. There were two others on the table as well, a thicker one for Mayor Masters, which she opened and browsed through.

"Wait." She paused, stopping as she came to a seemingly out of place article. "Why are there articles about Plasmius in here?" She asked aloud, frowning deeply- it didn't seem like it was a mistake, as there were more still about the vampireish ghost, the one who often antagonized Phantom. Suddenly, she recalled the 'suggestion' that Erich had even her for her hypothetical story- and with a sinking feeling, she suddenly realized that the reason he'd been able to connect the dots between Phantom and Danny was because of her.

The town mayor was a dhampir, half human, half vampire- but also a vampire hunter. That was the suggestion that he had given her. Knowing that this was not just a simple story suggestion, but rather some kind of metaphor, she frowned, eyebrows knitting together. So that made Mayor Masters what, exactly? Half-ghost? Was such a thing even possible? And if so, how was it that nobody knew about it? Not even the Fentons, who were not only professional ghost hunters, but apparently, according to these articles, college friends with Jack and Maddie.

But what else had Erich's story suggestion consisted of?

Another vampire, one the three forces had to unite against- and suddenly, Sam found herself turning to the thickest file on the table. Placing Vlad's down slowly, she picked it up. 'London', it read, and her eyes darted back towards the article on the wall. The dead serial killer? What did he have to do with any of this?

And when she opened it up, she was once again confronted with the article about the incident from two years ago. But what on earth did a dead serial killer have to do with it?

And why did she suddenly have the feeling that this was all just the beginning of something huge?


	9. Red with Rage

Author's Note: Chapter Nine! In which things continue to happen. Also I would like to give you all a huge thank you because- this story now has 100 followers! You all are fantastic, every single one of you, and you should go give yourselves a pat on the back! It's you guys that motivate me to write and I appreciate every single one of you!

Danny Phantom does not belong to me, although Erich and James do.

* * *

Graveyard Shift REDUX

Chapter Nine: Red with Rage

* * *

Sleep seemed to be escaping her that night. Jazz Fenton let out a loud yawn, her eyelids weighing down on her, but the awaited slumber that she had been yearning for had yet to come. Her mind was filled with too many thoughts, perhaps if she got up and walked around the house a little bit, it would help. Glancing over towards the clock, she noticed with a small grumbler that it was nearly one thirty in the morning. Her commute to college would be miserable today.

Rubbing her eyes, she slipped her feet into her slippers, heading out of her room, with the intent to go downstairs and perhaps get a glass of water. She stopped, however, at the door right next to the stairs, her eyes falling on it in the darkened hallway.

Danny's room. Nobody had been in there since the accident, she recalled. Her parents had gone so far as to chain it up, as if they couldn't face it yet, and wanted to put it entirely out of their minds. None of them expected that they would be burying Danny before any of them, and at such a young age- he had only been fourteen!

To be honest, there were times when Jazz resented her parents for ever building that blasted portal in the first place. If they never had, if they were normal parents, not obsessed with ghosts, then Danny would still be alive. He would have never gone into the thing, never would have been blasted back and hurled against the wall, and his neck wouldn't have snapped from the impact. He would still be here, with her, and she could have peaked in on his slumbering face, instead of staring at a barred door, one that lead to a room nobody was able to enter anymore.

It was probably like a time capsule in there, she thought. Everything had been left exactly as it had been on the day that he died.

Someday, she thought, she would go inside, but not tonight. She wasn't quite ready for that step just yet.

Heading downstairs, Jazz frowned, noticing that a light was on in the lab. Was someone still up at this hour? Frowning, Jazz headed down to the basement, yawning a little as she did so. She spotted her mother, hunched over one of the lab desks, busily scanning an assortment of papers. "Mom?" Jazz spoke up, tearing Maddie's attention away from them. One look at her eyes, and Jazz could tell that her mother was just as tired as she was, if not more so. "Why are you still up?"

"Oh, Jazz honey. I hope I didn't wake you." Maddie apologized, smiling at her. "I'm sorry, I'm just going over some more of these records about Phantom. Articles that I dug up from the archives."

"How come?" Jazz asked, frowning a little. She still hadn't told her mother that she had spoken with Phantom yet, but she imagined that she wouldn't be too happy to hear about it. She didn't think her mother would believe her if she told her that Phantom didn't seem like he was as bad as everyone made him out to be.

"I just want to understand him better." Maddie frowned a little, casting a glance towards the papers. "He's very... enigmatic." She said after a moment. "S Class ghosts generally are rather special in nature, but Phantom is different still. If I didn't know any better, I would almost say that he wasn't a ghost at all, purely from a behavioral standpoint. At least, most of the time- he has shown any number of erratic behaviors that are even less understandable when you factor in his usual behavior patterns over the years."

Jazz couldn't help but laugh a little. "I don't think he's still alive. I mean, we did see him fly away the other day." She said. Not to mention those otherworldly glowing green eyes and the glow that cloaked his body when she had met him pretty much chased away any doubts that Jazz might have about him being a ghost.

"Oh, I know that much." Maddie gave her daughter a wry smile. "He sneaked in here a few hours ago, to be honest. Probably to deposit more ghosts back into the Ghost Zone." She told her, smiling a little at the shocked look on her daughter's face. "Your father might be all about shooting first and not asking questions, but Phantom is an enigma- an Anomaly, even, and I don't want to see him wasted without having a chance to study and observe him to some degree. He could be just what I'm looking for in my research, a huge breakthrough in the field of Paranormal Science!"

"What kind of breakthrough?" Jazz asked, taking a seat.

"It's a little complicated to explain to someone who doesn't know much about my field." Maddie said. "But Phantom could provide many answers to questions that we haven't even _dreamed _of asking yet. All of my instincts say that Phantom is a very young ghost, and yet he's already this powerful. There's no reason that this should be the case, a ghost only becomes that powerful over a number of years. Even S Class ghosts aren't an exception." She told her. "And if he's this powerful now, then how powerful is he going to get in the future? It's a frightening question, to be honest."

"So you want to know the reason behind why he's so strong?" Jazz asked, and her mother nodded her head. "Maybe it has something to do with the way he died?" She offered.

"Maybe." Maddie frowned. "But the only way I can think that would be related would be if he had been exposed to a large amount of ectoplasm shortly before his death." She told her. "And I can't think of why that would have ever happened."

"Oh." Jazz frowned a little. "Um, well, you said you saw him... did you talk with Phantom?" She asked.

"Briefly." Maddie told her. "He fled when I told him I was interested in studying him." She snorted. "He should be grateful I just didn't destroy him on sight- he's a ghost, however unique, it's not like he has human rights or anything anymore."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Jazz winced, feeling a bit of sympathy for Phantom. She could understand why he would want to run away. "I mean, you said he's a young ghost, right? He's like, sixteen." She said. "Just a teenager. He's probably scared and frightened."

"He didn't seem that way to me." Maddie quirked a brow. "He had such a mouth on him, that if I were his mother, I would have given him a very stern talking to." She frowned. "Phantom's only valuable to me as a research subject, but at the end of the day, he's still a ghost, and like all others, needs to be destroyed. I can't afford to have sympathy for him just because he's young. A bit of pity, perhaps, especially for the boy's parents, whoever they might be, but not sympathy."

"Well," Jazz frowned a little, eyes darting away from her mother. "Maybe now isn't the best time to tell you this, but I actually ended up having a brief chat with him the other day." She said.

"What!?" Maddie asked, her eyes going wide and she stood up, placing her hands on Jazz, looking her daughter over. "Are you okay, honey? He didn't try anything on you, did he?"

"No mom, I'm fine!" Jazz told her, flushing bright red. "Mom I'm in college now, I'm not a baby anymore. He didn't do anything to me, he just warned me against making wishes in Amity Park, that's all." She said. "Something about a wish granting ghost named Desiree who twists them around or something."

"Oh yes, there's something about her in my files." Maddie commented offhandedly. "Why bring this up now though, Jazz? It almost sounds as if you weren't planning on telling me about this at all." She asked, frowning a bit.

"I just thought... he seemed like any other teenager, mom. Aside from the fact that he glowed." Jazz said, frowning a bit. "I don't think it's right, that you want to use him like a lab rat. I think you're wrong, mom, for once." She told her, standing up. "Phantom really is just like a human- and maybe other ghosts are different, maybe they aren't all like that, but he is- and he deserves to be treated like one. Not like some kind of test subject. I say this as an aspiring psychologist, by the way. That's my semi-professional opinion."

"Ghosts are tricky, honey." Maddie said simply, brushing it off. "He knows that you're our daughter, so most likely, he was trying to butter you up and get on your good side." She explained, not liking the idea that Phantom had spoken to her daughter at all. Would he try something on her in the future? She would have to think of a way to protect Jazz- perhaps provide her with one of the new Specter Deflectors that she had been working on making with Jack.

"I'm not so sure, mom." Jazz frowned a little. "Just... be open to all options, is what I'm trying to say." She told her, not daring to also tell her mother that speaking to Phantom had seemed strangely nostalgic. It was most likely due to the fact that he was the age Danny would have been if he had lived that did the trick. There was a faint resemblance between the two of them, she thought, but perhaps she had only been seeing things. "I just don't want you to end up doing something you regret."

"Well thank you honey, but I do know my ghosts." Maddie said, smiling at her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Now go to sleep. You've got class tomorrow, don't you? You know you didn't have to move back with us to Amity Park. I'm sure we could have found you an apartment."

"I wanted to come." Jazz told her, shaking her head. "And I'll try to get some sleep. You should take your own advice too, mom. You look like you need it even more." She told her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, honey." Maddie said, taking a seat back in front of the lab desk again, turning her attention back towards the articles. She frowned, picking one up, her eyes scanning over it. After a moment, she heaved a sigh, rubbing her forehead. "Maybe Jazz is right, maybe I should get some sleep." She said to herself, looking away from the papers, and towards several framed photos on the desk. She picked one up, smiling fondly at it, the blue eyes of her son staring her back. "What do you think, Danny?" She asked.

Placing a hand over the smiling picture of her fourteen year old son, one that he had taken with his friends a month before his death, she heaved a sigh. Deep down, she wondered if she was a terrible mother for having built the very thing that had lead to her son's death. She kept trying to convince herself that she had no way of knowing that Danny would try to go inside of it to fix what was wrong, and no way of knowing that it would turn on with him inside of it but- she couldn't chase away the feelings of guilt, and she doubted that she ever would be able to.

Setting down the photograph, she stood up again, her eyes moving towards the Ghost Portal, which was shut for the moment. Walking over to it, she pressed a button on the side of it, opening it up, staring into the swirling green mass of ectoplasm. How much pain had her son gone through? It must have been terrible, unimaginable, even. The thought that it hadn't been what killed him was horrifying.

_"Maybe it has something to do with the way he died?"_

Maddie froze, her hand hovering just over the Close button on the outside of the portal, her eyes going wide. Why had Jazz's words from just a few moments come back to her?

_"But the only way I can think that would be related would be if he had been exposed to a large amount of ectoplasm shortly before his death."_

She had dismissed her daughter's theory with those words, secure in her knowledge that there was no way that such a thing could happen.

And yet.

It was right here in front of her, wasn't it?

A way that someone had died, while being simultaneously exposed to a vast quantity of ectoplasm.

"Oh no." Maddie stepped back, shaking her head slowly, her brain slowly kicking into gear, even as she fought against the connections that it wanted to make. "No, no, no." She said, stepping back again, paling as she slowly started to put two and two together.

Why she knew those movements.

Why she knew that voice.

Why she knew that _face._

"No, oh no." Maddie put a hand over her mouth, trembling as her brain forced her to put two and two together. She should have seen it sooner, she should have made the connections the moment she finally came face to face with him hours ago. Her brain had wanted to make the connections then, but had refused to do so. She didn't want to make this connection, she didn't want to know who Phantom was before he had died, she didn't want to know anything about him other than what she was curious about in a scientific sense.

"Please no, anything but that." She pleaded, even though she knew it would do her no good. Phantom was- Phantom had been-

Her son was a ghost.

Danny was a ghost.

_Phantom._

Her son was _Phantom._

It was like some kind of cruel cosmic joke. One of her own inventions had murdered her son, and had turned him into one of the very things that she hated- and now she was assigned to hunt and destroy him.

For once, Maddie didn't want to be right about something.

The sound of the ghost alarm going off barely caught her attention, but she slowly noticed it, turning shakily towards it. There had been a sudden, alarming increase in activity in the park, it read. There were two powers there- an A Rank, the sudden appearance of it having set off the alarm.

And an S Class.

It took Maddie a few moments to get grips on herself enough to gain the resolve to do something about this. Shutting off the alarm so as to not wake the rest of her family, she grabbed a Fenton Thermos and the Fenton Bazooka, holstering an ectopistol to her waist.

One way or another, she had to _know_.

* * *

"Who are you?" Phantom said, eyes not leaving the strange man in front of him. His senses told him that this person was a human- but he was unmistakably using ghost powers. Was he being overshadowed, then? It was the first thought that came to Phantom's mind- the ability to overshadow was something every ghost had, a very basic power.

Well, every ghost except for him, it seemed. Phantom had never been able to pick up that trick, for reasons he had never been able to explain.

But this... seemed to run a bit deeper.

"Yes well, I suppose you wouldn't recognize this body." London observed, unable to keep the smirk off his face. So he really had no idea at all, hm? He didn't suppose the ghost boy would take very well to learning that the person he thought he had killed had in fact, not been a horrible serial killer, but rather an innocent human being, who had simply been possessed against their will.

He was sure that his reaction would be delightful.

"But I'm sure you recall the short time that we spent together, Phantom." London said simply. "After all, it was thanks to you that my last game was cut short so abruptly. Ah, yes, there was still death and destruction as the result of it, but it's not quite the same you see, if I'm not the one who causes it."

A look of gradual understanding slowly came across Phantom's face then, his glowing green eyes going wide. "You're..."

"Ah, there we go, now you're on the right track." London told him, turning his attention away from Erich entirely. He was human after all, and while he could hurt the body he was possessing, in the end, he couldn't hurt the _real _him.

The look of understanding fully crossed Phantom's face then- and in an instant, it turned to one of _rage_. His ghostly aura intensified, responding to this sudden shift. "You're that bastard!" Phantom spat out, eyes flickering from green to a deep red, anger causing his body to shake. "You're the one that killed her!"

"Yes, I did." London said simply. "But I don't think you have any right to speak of killing anyone, Phantom. You caused far more death and damage than I could have ever done at the time."

"Shut up!" Phantom hissed, his hands glowing blue, and on instinct, he lashed out, hurling great pillars of ice towards the man, having all but forgotten that the body he had was most likely human in his anger. "Get out of here! Get out of Amity Park!"

Erich had to scramble to his feet to avoid being hit by one of the pillars, barely avoiding them, while London simply turned the body he wore intangible, smirking at the ghost boy as he stepped out from the pillars, completely unharmed. This wasn't good, Erich thought- he knew about Phantom's ice powers, but this was the first time he had seen them used to violently- or any of his powers used so aggressively, to be honest. It was as if, in an instant, Phantom had become an entirely different person- and judging by the color of his eyes, Erich thought he was on to something.

"Yes, just like that!" London clapped his hands. "Headless of your surroundings, suddenly unaware of the innocent bystanders." He said, his gaze briefly resting on Erich. "And headless of any facts. This is a human's body you know Phantom, one that I am simply borrowing. If you kill it while trying to destroy me, you will simply gain even more blood on your hands."

Whatever had happened to Phantom, it seemed as if he wasn't listening to words anymore, and instead, he flew towards London, going at speeds that Erich didn't know he was capable of- and he had been researching him for the past two years, ever since the Incident. The ghost lunged towards London, and the man merely side stepped him, a cool and undaunted look in his eyes, as if he had Phantom right where he wanted him.

"Now, now, what would your mother think of you if she saw you like this?" London asked simply, smirking as one of Phantom's ectoblasts flew over his head, as he ducked down to avoid it. "Ah, but that's right. She has no idea that her beloved son has become Amity Park's most notorious ghost, does she? She would be so ashamed if she ever learned the truth."

Erich eyes narrowed at this- clearly London had been studying Phantom for some time, because he had clearly arrived at the same conclusion that he had. It seemed as if he was provoking him, furthering this state of rage that Phantom had slipped into, and he didn't like where this was going. Getting to his feet, ignoring the pain in his burned shoulder, he tried to catch the ghost's attention. Surely he had to have some reason left in him, from the way Sam would speak of this 'Danny', he didn't seem like the type to spiral into rage so quickly.

Then again, it wasn't as if he could blame him.

"Hey!" Erich shouted. "He's just trying to provoke you, Phantom!"

That did seem to get his attention to a degree, but it only caused Phantom to turn those red eyes towards Erich. Ah, that could have been a mistake, he thought, before Phantom's attention was again turned away from the man, and back towards London, as a wave of ectofire was launched towards Phantom, blasting him backwards and into a nearby tree.

Phantom almost growled, quickly getting back to his feet, so to speak. His hands glowed blue again, as he chucked another pillar of ice towards London, who simply yawned, holding up a hand. A wave of ectoplasmic fire leapt out of it, consuming the pillar whole and melting it down to nothing, before it even had the chance to reach him.

"Phantom!" A woman's voice came from above, and in an instant, the Red Hunter appeared, descending on her jet sled. She made a quick assessment of the situation, taking note of the large pillars of ice still stuck in the ground, and of Erich and London's presence there- but more importantly, of Phantom's state. Her eyes narrowed beneath her mask- she knew all too well what this was, she had seen it once before.

And she had hoped that she would never see it again.

Still, she knew this was not a mode Phantom could enter without being antagonized- and she had a good guess that this fellow, with his slicked back hair, was responsible. She vaguely recognized the other one, the one with the messy ponytail, as the grave keeper, someone that Sam was acquainted with, and couldn't even begin to imagine why he was here, embroiled in this mess.

She also knew that she had to put a stop to this before Phantom did something he regretted, again.

Phantom barely noticed Valerie's presence, and instead lunged again towards London. Grimacing, Valerie fired a warning shot between them, causing Phantom to be thrown back- and turning his attention towards her now.

And so, too, did the stranger.

"Ah, the Red Hunter." London spoke. "So nice of you to join us. Sadly we didn't get acquainted the last time we were in town. Pity. I'm sure we'll be able to make up for it this time, however!"

Valerie's eyes narrowed, but she didn't have much time to dwell on his comments because Phantom, unable to tell friend from foe at the moment, too engulfed in his own anger, turned on her, hurling an ectoblast towards her. Valerie swore underneath her breath, narrowly avoiding it, having almost forgotten what fighting against Phantom was like. It had been awhile.

If she knocked him out, he would recover from this state, she knew that much. However, that would leave her alone with this other stranger, and it was him that she was ultimately more worried about, if he had managed to put Phantom in this state so quickly. She hadn't even been that far behind him!

"Come on Phantom, we're not enemies anymore." Valerie hissed, maneuvering her jet sled backwards as Phantom lunged into the air after her, hurling ectoblast after ectoblast towards her. Of course, he couldn't hear her right now, she knew that much. She hated having to fight him again, even under these circumstances, but she needed to knock him out before he hurt anyone- namely her.

Pulling out her ectogun, she charged it up, firing off a volley of shots at the ghost, who avoided them all, the last one soaring right over his head as he flew towards Valerie, hurling a blast of ice towards her. She avoided the blast, flying underneath him and firing off more shots, this time managing to hit him from behind, causing him to hurtle forward. Switching to the big guns, she pulled out her ectobazooka, charging it up and intending to aim it square at his head, hopefully forcing him back to awareness one way or another, when another ectoblast came from a different location, surprising both her and Phantom, and sending the ghost hurtling towards the ground.

Of all the times for Maddie Fenton to show up, Valerie thought, noticing who it was that had fired the blast.

"Wait!" Valerie called out, as Maddie hurried towards the scene. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the cause of all this, the man with the slicked back hair, was gone, probably had left to give Maddie an even worse impression of Phantom than she surely already had by now. She didn't need to see him like this! She would never be able to reconcile Phantom like this, and this wasn't the real Phantom, Valerie thought, her thoughts going at a mile a minute. "Don't shoot!"

"He's attacking!" Maddie protested, her words punctuated by a low growl from Phantom, who got back up, casting his red eyed gaze towards Maddie. The A Rank ghost that had been here before was gone now, according to the Fenton Ghost Finder, but she didn't have long to dwell on this before Phantom was on her, firing a pillar of ice towards her.

Ice powers, Maddie thought- they had been in her records about Phantom, although it seemed he didn't use them as much. Charging up the Fenton Bazooka, she fried it, sucking the pillar into the Ghost Zone.

The ice powers had been in her records, but the red eyes had been nowhere in them. This wasn't a Phantom she was familiar with, and the thought that he might be her son was something she was trying very hard not to think about as the ghost flew towards her.

No, Valerie couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let Phantom and Maddie fight each other, not when Phantom was in this state. She didn't want to use this, because she knew it caused him quite a bit of pain, but she had no choice at the moment. Clenching her teeth, she pulled out a different gun, aiming it towards Phantom's unprotected back. "Please forgive me for this, Fenton." She whispered underneath her breath, before pulling the trigger.

An electric charge leapt out of the gun, locking onto Phantom's ectosignature. The ghost's eyes widened as the powerful jolt of electricity coursed through him, and he let out a scream of pain, the purple lightning coursing through his body. He wavered a little in the air, before he dropped down, ghostly glow slightly dimming as he hit the dirt. Valerie breathed a sigh of relief, bringing her jet sled down by Phantom, shooting a look towards Maddie as she collected him.

"This isn't him." Valerie told him, scooping the fallen ghost boy in her arms. Good, he seemed fine, and she was sure that he would recover shortly. He would probably be angry with her- but also rather grateful that she had stopped him from doing anything he would regret to his mother. He would, of course, be horrified to learn that he had fallen into that state again, and Valerie was dying to know what had caused it. She had a sneaking suspicion as to what, however, and it wasn't a thought that she cared very much for.

Maddie frowned, casting her eyes on the mysterious woman in front of her. The Red Hunter. She had expected that she would come face to face with one of Amity Park's other ghost hunters at some point, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon. The Red Hunter was a mystery, nobody seemed to know her true identity. She had begun as one of Phantom's worst enemies, right up until she became one of his allies some time ago, making a dramatic 180 change in attitude. "What do you mean?" She asked slowly, as if she didn't want to believe that Phantom was acting underneath his own control at the moment either.

That is, if Phantom really _was _Danny, like every part of her brain was screaming at her was the truth. Her heart was desperately trying to say that he wasn't however, not able to bare the thought that her precious baby boy had been transformed into such a strange and honestly more than a little frightening ghost.

She knew her brain would win out in the end, but for the moment, she very much wanted to listen to her heart instead. She didn't even know what she would tell Jack later, but she also knew that she couldn't keep this from him.

"I mean that something provoked him." Valerie told her, attempting to mask her voice so that Maddie wouldn't put the Red Hunter together with Valerie Gray, who was also friends with Phantom. "He should recover and return to normal after that shock, but that wasn't Phantom. Please believe me when I say that he's not like that."

"You're a ghost hunter." Maddie said, frowning deeply. "What makes you think he's something you should ally yourself with?"

"Because I got to know him." Valerie said simply. "He's more than just a ghost. He's still got a lot of human in him too. You shouldn't be so hard on him."

"After he just attacked both of us, and made a mess out of the park!?" Maddie asked, sounding incredulous.

"Yes." Valerie said simply. "This isn't normal behavior for him, and I'm sure there's a good reason as to why something flipped his switch." She told her. "And I intend to find out. I know that hunting ghosts is your life, Mrs. Fenton, and you might have personal reasons behind it, but you need to start thinking that not all ghosts are evil. Phantom's not."

Maddie frowned, her eyes narrowing. This Red Hunter was going to awful lengths to convince her that what she had just seen wasn't a sign of Phantom's true nature- and honestly, she couldn't help but hope that it wasn't. She didn't want her son, her Danny, to be evil, she wanted him to be different from other ghosts, in spite of what she had told Jazz when she had asked her about the matter.

She didn't want to hunt her own son.

"Why do you care so much what I think about Phantom?" Maddie asked, wondering if this mysterious hunter somehow knew Phantom's secrets.

"Because he's my friend." Valerie said after a moment. It was true, although there was more to the truth than just that. But she didn't want to let Maddie suspect that the real reason she wanted there to be peace between her and Phantom was because he was her son.

"He's a ghost." Maddie told her, almost as if out of habit, more than anything else.

"Yes." Valerie said after a moment, bringing her jet sled higher up into the air. She didn't want Phantom here when he recovered, it would probably be too much for him. "That doesn't change anything though. Phantom is a good kid. Just... trust me on this."

Without sparing another word, Valerie flew away, leaving Maddie behind for the moment. She cast a glance over the park as she went, not spotting hide nor hair of either of the men who had been there at the time. She was going to have some words with that grave keeper later, she thought, there was something fishy going on with him, and she didn't like the idea of Sam living with someone suspicious, even if it was only for a short while. While she trusted Sam to be a good judge of character, even they could be fooled every once in awhile.

After all, she'd never even suspected that the person supplying her with anti ghost tech at first had been _Vlad Masters_. She never figured out why he was so intent on seeing Phantom wiped out, but she had a suspicion that she should probably get on finding out _why._

Maddie could only watch as the Red Hunter flew off, her expression that of bewilderment, she knew. She had come to the park expecting- well, to be honest, she didn't know what she was expecting. She had more or less run out of the house without really thinking too hard about anything, just trying to avoid the fact that her brain had made a connection that she really didn't like, not one bit.

To be honest, one of the reasons that she and Jack had decided to leave Amity Park in the first place was in case Danny did come back as a ghost. No matter what they said, neither of them could really handle the prospect of hunting their own son, seeing him twisted into some horrid, putrid filthy mass of ectoplasm and post human consciousness.

But Phantom wasn't that.

She wasn't sure if she should be happy about this or deeply worried that her son had become something that she couldn't class.

And Phantom _was _Danny, wasn't he?

"I knew we shouldn't have taken this job." Maddie said, frowning deeply, casting her eyes towards the pillars of ice that had been left behind in the park. S Class indeed, she thought, marveling at the great pillars. Phantom must have an ice core, she thought dimly, wondering how long it would take for the pillars to vanish.

Since there was nothing else to see here, Maddie turned on her heel, headed back to Fenton Works, hoping that she could sort her thoughts out. To be honest, she had known from the first time she had seen a picture of Phantom, that this job might be something she would regret taking. She just didn't really understand why at the time.

* * *

Sam felt as if she had spent hours scouring the files that Erich had hidden away in his secret room, looking for some kind of meaning about them. As it turned out, it had only been about half an hour when she had decided to take a break. She wasn't afraid of him catching her in here- she knew that he had told her the sequence of books on purpose. But her eyes were watering after doing so much late night reading, and she needed to take a break, to try and gather her thoughts.

Who was Erich Hansaw, really? What kind of person was he? No, she thought she knew what kind of person he was- she didn't think he was acting, not in terms of his personality at least. It was just simply that he knew much more than he was letting on.

But who was 'James London'? There had been a few articles about the serial killer with that name in the files, but all the other articles that had been in the folder under that name appeared to be unrelated. That was something she didn't understand, and it gave her an ominous feeling.

She jumped, a little, in spite of herself, when she heard the door open downstairs, and someone stumble inside. Eyes narrowing, she steeled herself for a possible intruder, and cautiously made her way downstairs. She quickly cast aside any thoughts of it being a burglar, however, when she saw Erich stumble inside, his clothing torn and burnt in places. He looked up at her with a weak grin.

"My old friend turns out to be a real firecracker." Erich said, laughing a little as he closed the door behind him. "Sorry Sam, did I wake you? You can go back to sleep if you want." He paused then, catching the look in her eyes. "Ah, so you did the favor for me."

"I did." Sam said after a moment, torn between her worry for his burnt shoulder and her confusion as to what was going on. She was honestly more than a little angry and feeling as if she had been used to gather information about Phantom, but somehow she didn't think Erich had that in mind when he had first employed her here, or had gotten to know her. "You've got a bit of explaining to do."

"I do." Erich admitted. "Can I administer first aid to myself first?" He asked meekly, heading towards the cabinet that he kept his first aid kit in, pulling it out and setting it on the table. The burn on his shoulder didn't seem to be too bad, it probably would have been a lot worse if Phantom hadn't shown up when he had.

Still, that state he had gotten into was something he needed to think about- although he felt as if it put a big piece of the puzzle into place that had been missing before. Taking a seat at the kitchen table, he nodded to Sam, glancing towards the other chair. "Go on and sit down, Sam. This is probably going to be a long story, and it's probably important that you hear it. This could involve you as well, for all I know, considering that it's your friend that's caught in the center of the firestorm that's come to Amity Park."

"Phantom?" Sam asked, not wanting to use Danny's real name, even though she knew it was fruitless to attempt to hide anything. "Is something bad going to happen to him?"

"I hope not." Erich said. "If everything goes well, I hope nothing bad will happen to anyone. I've played chess against this person before... but not while he wasn't pretending to be human. And he's not, not anymore. I think he's irritated that his game got broken up twice outside of his plans."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, taking the seat that was offered to her, watching as Erich began to treat the burn, wondering why he just didn't want to go to a hospital. He probably didn't want to explain how he had gotten it. "If Phantom's in danger, I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing, you know."

"Oh, I know you won't." Erich grinned. "And that's why you're important Sam. If this is a game of chess, then you're the Queen- you're able to move over all sections of the board."

"And who would be the King in this metaphor?" Sam asked, quirking a brow. "I didn't even know you played chess, Mr. Hansaw."

"Oh I don't, it's a shitty game." Erich smirked, unable to help himself. "But the king is Phantom. He's the key to winning this game, and winning it so that it can never be played again."

"Alright then." Sam said, folding her hands on the table, locking eyes with Erich. "You have my attention. Get talking."


End file.
